According to the data announced by the Belgian Statistical Office STATBEL; inflation rose from 0.26% to 0.46% in February. While the consumer price index increased by 0.22% (0.24 points) from 109.97 in January to 110.39, the health index-based inflation decreased from 0.57% to 0.47%.
In February, the highest upward impact on inflation came from the “Entertainment and Culture” expenditure group with 0.15 percentage points, and the inflationary effect was due to the increase in the international travel price index due to the seasonal adjustment factor * and the price pushing forward. On the other hand, the expenditure group that had the greatest downward effect on inflation was “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” with -0.15 percentage points.
In February 2021, food inflation is at 0.08% (December 1.74%, January 1.31%), energy inflation is at – 3.60% (December – 8.98%, January – 7.85%,) has been realized. Compared to the previous year, while electricity increased by 1.8% and natural gas by 4.1%, heating fuel and motor vehicle fuel prices decreased by 32.2% and 2.2%, respectively.
In the service sector, inflation rose from 1.09% in January to 1.23%, while rental inflation rose from 1.49% to 2.13%.
Core inflation, excluding energy and unprocessed food price changes, stood at 1.01% in February (November 1.34%, December 1.33%, January 1.15%).
- Existing measures stemming from COVID-19 have been effective in the calculation of the index, for example, the weight of the online instead of the field has increased in price collection. On the other hand, due to the lack of consumption expenditure and price monitoring for sectors that are completely closed, such as restaurants, travel agencies, the latest prices for the sectors that do not have a seasonal pattern in pricing have been moved forward (to the period when the sectors are opened).
Source: STATBEL