The annual inflation rate in Luxembourg rose slightly to 2.0% .
In September 2018, the national consumer price index rose by 0.2% compared to the previous month with inflation reaching 2.0%. This change has been mainly attributed to higher energy prices.
Compared with September of the previous year, the price of black gold in the index basket was 14.7% higher and electricity prices 6.5% higher in September 2018. Meanwhile, prices for petroleum products have been on an upward trend since April. In September, the index for these products rose by 1.5% compared to the previous month. At the pump, motorists pay 0.1% more for a full tank of petrol and 2.0% more for diesel. Similarly, heating oil was 4.2% more expensive than the previous month.
Moreover, with the start of the school year, the prices of some private education courses have been adapted. They are recovering an average of 15.0% compared to the old rates.
Price variations were also visible in the food section compared to the previous month with fresh vegetables increasing by 13.7%, while decreases were observed for fresh fruit (-2.0%), meat (-0.4%) and fish and seafood (-0.3%). In total, food prices recovered 0.3% in one month and 2.6% compared to September 2017.
Travel expenses were found to have the greatest impact on the monthly result. Indeed, due to the end of the school holidays, package travel prices fell by 5.3% and airfares by 26% compared to August. On the services side, the categories of retirement and care homes (+0.4%), restaurants and cafés (+0.4%) and hairdressing and beauty salons (+0.2%) were also on the rise and thus influenced the September index.
Finally, the annual rate of core inflation gained 0.3 percentage points and reached 1.3%, whilst the semi-annual average of the index connected to the 1.1.1948 base increased from 855.48 to 857.78 points. The next indexing will be triggered when the value of 873.94 is reached.
