Inflation dips to 1.5 percent

• Clothes and petrol prices have downward effect on inflation
• Dutch inflation rate remains below eurozone level

According to the most recent figures released by Statistics Netherlands, the Dutch inflation rate dropped marginally in August to 1.5 percent, i.e. 0.1 percentage points lower than in July. Prices of clothes and petrol had a downward effect on inflation.

Clothes were 3.0 percent cheaper in August than one year ago. This is mainly due to the fact that the summer sales lasted longer than in 2009.

The price of petrol at petrol stations increased by 4.7 percent in August relative to last year. In July, petrol prices rose by 8.8 percent compared to July 2009. This contributed to keeping the level of inflation down in August.

Dutch inflation according to the European harmonised method (HICP) dropped to 1.2 percent. Inflation in the eurozone is still higher than in the Netherlands. Eurostat reports that inflation in the eurozone fell to 1.6 percent in August.

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