February 2, 2023

Consumer price index in Belgium for January 2023

  • Inflation decreased from 10.35% to 8.05% in January.
  • The consumer price index increased by 0.12 points or 0.09% this month.
  • Inflation based on the health index has fallen from 10.63% to 8.28%.
  • The smoothed health index amounted to 125.26 points in January.
  • Inflation for food products has sharply increased in recent months. Food inflation (including alcoholic beverages) now stands at 15.59%. The contribution of food products to inflation currently amounts to 2.95 percentage points.
  • Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stands at 8.05% in January, compared to 7.34% in December. This is due to the increase in inflation for processed food products and services.
  • The most significant price increases in January were registered for bread and cereals, dairy products, health insurances, meat, non-alcoholic beverages, fire insurances, nursing care, personal care, bundled telecommunication services and fruit. However, natural gas and electricity have had a decreasing effect on the index.

Inflation amounts to 8.05% in January compared to 10.35% in December and 10.63% in November. Inflation based on the health index amounted to 8.28% this month compared to 10.63% in December and November. Inflation without energy increased to 8.61%, compared to 7.89% in December and 7.80% in November. Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stands at 8.05% in January, compared to 7.34% in December and 7.16% in November.

With regard to energy, we see a new decrease in inflation this month. It now stands at 5.21%, compared to 32.88% last month. This is due to the sharp increase in energy inflation observed in January 2022 (inflation being a measure related to the previous year) and a decrease in electricity and natural gas prices compared to last month. For electricity, inflation currently stands at 2.8% compared to 35.5% last month. For natural gas, it went from 73.1% last month to -7.1% this month. Compared to last month, natural gas prices decreased by 27.7% and those for electricity by 8.6%. Prices for domestic heating oil, calculated based on a smoothed 12-month moving average, have increased by 46.7% in a year. Motor fuels cost 2.8% more than in January last year and increased by 0.7% this month compared to the previous month.

Inflation for services has increased to 6.56% up from 5.80%. Inflation for rents has risen from 4.98% to 5.93%. Food inflation (including alcoholic beverages) now stands at 15.59% compared to 14.53% last month. This inflation has increased sharply in recent months. In January last year, it was still 2.26%.

In particular, inflation for oils, fish, dairy products, bread and cereals and meat has sharply increased in recent months. Inflation for oils stands this month at 28.2%. In January 2022, it was still 6.8%. For fish, inflation is now 15.0% compared to 1.6% in January 2022. Inflation for dairy products amounts to 24.6% this month compared to 2.4% in January 2022. For bread and cereals, inflation stands at 18.3% this month compared to 4.5% in January last year. Inflation for meat amounts to 13.8% this month compared to 1.9% in January 2022.

The decrease in inflation is associated with lower energy prices. Energy inflation goes from 32.88% in December 2022 to 5.21% in January 2023 and accounts for 0.42 percentage points to total inflation, compared to 3.25 the previous month. With an inflation of 15.59%, food products account for 2.95 percentage points.

The price of natural gas has decreased by 27.7% on average compared to the previous month. The price of electricity has decreased by 8.6% on average this month.

Source: STATBEL
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