Inflation in the Netherlands appears to be slowly decreasing: in December 2023 it rose by an average of 1.2 percent compared to the last month of 2022. Central Bureau of Statistics Friday. In November last year, inflation was still 1.6 percent.
Now that the December figures are known, CBS can also make an initial estimate of inflation for the whole of 2023. According to the first calculation, this is 3.8 percent. In 2022 it was still 10 percent, the highest percentage in fifty years.
However, the two years cannot be fully compared, because Statistics Netherlands switched to a new calculation method for energy prices in June last year. Previously, CBS used the price of new energy contracts to calculate, which is often higher than the price of the actual current energy contracts. Statistics Netherlands therefore now calculates with current contracts, but this makes inflation figures for June 2023 excessively high.
Energy prices
Energy prices have had a major influence on inflation rates for a long time. At first they pushed the price level up, but last year they brought the inflation rate down because energy costs have fallen sharply compared to 2022. In December, gas, electricity and district heating were almost 25 percent cheaper than a year earlier. Food, drinks and tobacco became 5.3 percent more expensive, and the prices of services also rose by 4.1 percent in December.
If the fuel price increase is removed from the calculation, inflation last December amounts to 3.4 percent. Excluding energy and motor fuels, inflation peaked in February and March at 8.1 percent, and has continued to decline every month since.
Statistics Netherlands has calculated these figures using a ‘quick estimate’. This means that the figures are based on incomplete source data. Full inflation figures will be shared on January 11.