Inflation rate down to 2.1 percent

• Lowest rate in more than a year
• Petrol prices have downward effect
• Eurozone inflation rate also down

According to the latest figures released by Statistics Netherlands, the inflation rate fell to 2.1 percent in May, the lowest rate in more than twelve months. In April, consumer prices were on average 2.4 percent higer than one year previously.

Lower petrol prices contributed most to the inflation slowdown. The price of one litre of Euro unleaded averaged 1.75 euro in May versus 1.81 euro in April. Price developments for various other commodities, e.g. cosmetic products and clothes also had a modest downward effect on inflation.

Inflation according to the European harmonised method (HICP) dropped to 2.5 percent in the Netherlands, i.e. 0.3 percentage points down from April. Eurostat figures show that the eurozone inflation rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 2.4 percent. For the fifth month in a row, the level of inflation in the Netherlands is above the eurozone level.