Inflation rate in December up to 1.7 percent

• Prices petrol and clothes drive up inflation
• Inflation rate over 2013 averages 2.5 percent
• Eurozone inflation rate down

The most recent figures released by Statistics Netherlands show that the inflation rate in December was 1.7 percent. In November, consumer prices were 1.5 percent higher than one year previously.

Clothes and petrol prices contributed to the higher inflation rate. During the December sales prices were not reduced as much as in previous years, resulting in a higher inflation.
 
With 2.5 percent, the average inflation rate over 2013 was the same as in 2012. Government measures largely accounted for the higher prices in 2013. At the end of 2012, the VAT rate was raised and in 2013 insurance tax, energy tax and excise duty on alcohol and tobacco were raised. Without these government measures, the inflation rate would have been 1.3 percent.

The inflation rate in the Netherlands calculated on the basis of the European harmonised method (HICP) rose to 1.4 percent, i.e. 0.2 percentage points above the November level. According to Eurostat, the eurozone inflation rate fell to 0.8 percent in December. The eurozone inflation rate over November was 0.9 percent.