Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Inflation remained roughly stable in March; It ranged from 3.20% to 3.18%. The consumer price index rose this month by 0.72 points, or 0.55%. According to figures published by the Belgian Statistics Office, it also stated, “The inflation rate based on the health index decreased from 3.22% to 3.09%. The smoothed health index reached 127.99 points in March.”
The inflation rate in food prices (including alcoholic beverages) fell for the twelfth month in a row and reached 3.21% this month compared to 4.65% in February. The contribution of food to inflation is currently 0.67 percentage points.
Core inflation, which does not take into account the development of prices of energy products and unprocessed food, fell for the tenth month in a row and reached 3.85% in March, compared to 4.25% in February.
The most significant price increases during March were the prices of fruits, natural gas, vehicle maintenance and repair, chocolate, sweets, clothing, foreign travel and holiday villages. On the other hand, alcoholic beverages and vegetables had a reducing effect on the index