Main monthly contributions (in percentage points); Credit: STATEC

On Wednesday 7 January 2026, Luxembourg's national statistics institute, STATEC, reported that the annual inflation rate rose to 3.1% in December 2025, up from 3.0% in November.

According to STATEC, in December 2025 Services rose by 0.7% over one month and recorded an annual rate of 2.7%, nursery fees increased by 7.6% compared with November (9.5% year on year), air fares rose by 21.6% over one month (9.1% year on year), while package holidays increased by 6.0% over one month (4.8% year on year). STATEC noted that these monthly seasonal effects are the result of strong demand during the end-of-year holiday period.

Over the same period, petroleum products recorded a monthly decline of 4.8%. A decrease, STATEC said, is mainly explained by the fall in the price of heating oil, which dropped by 8.6% over one month. Fuel prices at the pump were lower for motorists: compared with November, prices fell by 5.1% for diesel and by 3.9% for petrol. Gas prices, for their part, continued to decline in December (2.5%), but remained sharply higher year on year (25.4%). Despite these decreases, the petroleum products aggregate increased by 5.7% compared with the previous year.

Compared with December 2024, food prices increased by 3.3%. The strongest annual increases were recorded for beef and veal (14.1%), chocolate (13.7%) and coffee (15.1%), whereas in December 2025 the largest monthly increases were observed for fresh fish (4.4%) and coffee (2.1%), while prices for rice (2.1%) and pizzas and quiches (2.1%) fell compared with November.

STATEC reported that a monthly decline with a visible impact on the overall index for December was related to alcoholic beverages, whose prices fell by 1.6% compared with the previous month. Prices for spirits and liqueurs (3.8%), wine (2.5%, including sparkling wine) and fortified wine (4.1%) decreased due to promotional campaigns for the end-of-year holidays. This was also reflected in the annual comparison, with alcoholic beverage prices 0.6% lower.

STATEC reported that the underlying annual inflation rate rose from 2.6% to 2.9% in December. In January 2026, the annual inflation rate is expected to be reduced by around half, mainly due to the State contribution to electricity network usage tariffs (electricity prices are expected to fall by around 10% in January 2026).

The overall index for December, expressed on a base of 100 in 2015, stood at 126.18 points. The six-month average of the index linked to the base of 1.1.1948 increased from 1,036.14 to 1,036.63 points. The next indexation will be triggered when the value of 1,038.79 is reached.

STATEC noted that from January 2026, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the National Index of Consumer Prices (CPI) will be based on a new classification known as ECOICOP v2. This update includes several changes:

  • games of chance will, for the first time, be included in the consumer price index within the “Recreation” division (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/3159);
  • the “Miscellaneous goods and services” division will be split into “Insurance and financial services” and “Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services”;
  • several reclassifications will be carried out within the “Recreation, entertainment and culture” and “Information and communication equipment” divisions;
  • in 2026, a new reference year will be introduced: the HICP and CPI will be published on a base of 2025=100;
  • the weighting of the basket of goods and services will be updated to reflect changes in household consumption habits.

STATEC will provide further details on these developments when publishing the inflation figures for January 2026, scheduled for Monday 9 February 2026.