After a glitch in March that saw inflation rise slighty, inflation fell again in April. Figures released by the Belgian Office of Statistics Statbel on Thursday morning show that inflation in April was 5.6%. This is down more than a full percentage point on the 6.67% inflation rate recorded in March.
Home News
Inflation falls to 5.6%
Published:
Rises in the price of petrol and diesel, vegetables, fruit, meat, and hotel rooms were the main motors fueling inflation during the past month. To a lesser extent a fall in the price of foreign travel and city trips served to lower the rate of inflation.
The price of food, including alcoholic beverages, was 16.64% higher in April 2023 than it was a year ago This compares with a year-on-year increase of 17.02% in March. The rise in the price of food is responsible for more than half of the current 5.6% inflation rate.
Inflation excluding energy products fell to 9.02%.. Energy has become cheaper. In April 2023, energy was 17.08% cheaper than it was in April 2022. This compares with an energy inflation rate of – 10.11% in March.
In March, after several months of decline, the headline inflation rate had rose again to 6.67%, up from 6.62 percent in February.
Despite the fall in April, inflation remains very high compared to the years before it started to rise in 2021. Last year the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the sharp rise in energy prices that followed served to further fuel the rise in inflation in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe.