On Monday 8 January 2024, Luxembourg's statistical institute, STATEC, announced that the annual inflation rate had climbed from 3.0% to 3.5%.
In December 2023, STATEC recorded that the national consumer price index showed a monthly decline of 0.2%. This trend is explained by the sharp decline in the prices of petroleum products of 3.9% in one month, STATEC noted.
In December, at the pump, motorists had to pay 4.8% less for a litre of diesel and the price of a litre of petrol fell by 5.0% in one month. The amount of the bill to fill the heating oil tank was 8.3% lower. Compared to December 2022, the prices of petroleum products were 4.4% lower.
Food prices remained stable compared to November 2023. The largest price drops were seen for frozen seafood (down 3.8%), pork (down 2.0%) and fresh fruit (down 0.8%). In terms of food price increases, pasta and couscous (up 2.5%) and fresh vegetables (up 1.0%) stood out. In annual comparison, food prices as a whole were 7.3% higher in December 2023. Alcoholic beverages decreased by 0.3% compared to November following promotional actions for the end-of-year holidays on the prices of spirits and liqueurs (down 2.7%) and wine (down 0.8%, including sparkling wine).
At the end of the year, seasonal movements have a strong inflationary influence on the overall result, STATEC noted. Thus, due to school holidays, plane ticket prices have soared by 15.5% compared to November. For package travel, the price increase was limited to 2.1%. Price increases were also recorded for hotels, motels and inns (up 2.1%).
In addition, inflation was boosted by an increase in the prices of domestic services, which rose by 2.5% in December. This series is based on an administrative file containing the salaries of people responsible for housework in private households. The data is integrated into the consumer price index with a three-month delay, so this increase results from the application of the index bracket to September 2023, the statistical institute noted.
The annual inflation rate stood at 3.5% compared to 3.0% a month earlier. The underlying annual inflation rate gained 0.1% and stood at 4.0% in December. The general index for December expressed in base 100 in 2015 amounts to 121.17 points. The half-yearly average of the index connected to the 1.1.1948 base thus went from 997.10 to 998.07 points. The next wage indexation will be triggered when the value of 1013.46 is reached.
