Inflation in Belgium rose to 3.74% in June, up from 3.36% in May, figures from the national statistics office Statbel show. The inflation increase is predominantly due to the phasing out of the basic package impact on electricity and natural gas, put in place to protect purchasing power.
Despite the government support measures ending in March this year, the resulting increase in energy prices will continue to weigh on the inflation rate until April 2025 (because inflation is a comparison to prices at that point the year previous). The inflation rate for this June is the highest since August 2023 (4.09%).
Energy inflation reached 15.10% in June, up from 11.17% in May, contributing 1.27% to total inflation. Natural gas prices rose 6% in June compared to the previous month, while electricity prices increased on average by 3.4%.
The consumer price index rose 0.22% within a month to reach 131.87 points in June. Health-based inflation also rose from 3.20% to 3.80%.
In June, the health index rose by 0.50 points to 131.92 points, up from 131.42 points in May. The smoothed health index was at 128.86 points in June. The next pivot index for public service and social allowances is set at 130.67 points.
Whereas some foodstuffs had been most impacted by price increases, inflation for food has now slowed, dropping from 1.00% in May to 0.31% in June. Core inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food prices, was 2.97% in June – up from 2.80% the previous month.
Natural gas saw its price skyrocket by 128% year-on-year, followed by fresh seafood (+46.9%) and olive oil (+32.7%). Conversely, video equipment (-17.7%), mobile telephony equipment (-14.5%) and laptop computers (-13.7%) saw the most significant drops.
