On Wednesday 7 June 2023, Luxembourg's national statistics office, STATEC, announced that the country's national consumer price index recovered by 0.1% compared to the previous month.
The prices of food products continued the marked upward trend in March 2023 and gained 0.3% in monthly comparison while the aggregate of petroleum products fell by 4.3%.
The biggest increases compared to the previous month were observed for baby food (+3.6%), pasta and couscous (+2.5%) and potatoes (+2.1%). On the other hand, the prices of fresh vegetables (-3.0%) and fresh fish (-2.6%) fell compared to April. Price trends were also noted for alcoholic beverages: the price of wine increased by 1.8% while that of beer beer decreased by 2.3% compared to the previous month. In annual comparison, food prices are 12.5% higher and alcoholic beverages 10.0%.
The petroleum products aggregate continued its downward trajectory. Bills have been reduced by 12.1% compared to the previous month for households that have filled their oil tank. At the pump, the price of Diesel fell by 5.8% and the price of a litre of petrol decreased by 3.7% in one month. The prices of oil derivatives in the basket of the index were 13.9% lower compared to May 2022.
Decreases with a visible impact on inflation were noted for passenger transport by air (-4.2%) and mobile telephone services (-2.7%).
In addition, inflation was boosted by a rise in the prices of domestic services, which gained 2.6% in May 2023. This series is based on an administrative file containing the salaries of people in charge of housework in private households. According to STATEC, the data is integrated into the consumer price index three months late, so this increase results from the application of the index bracket in February 2023. Price increases were also recorded for crèches and day-care centres for children (+4.5%), restaurants (+0.5%) and hotels, motels and inns (+3.9%).
The annual inflation rate stood at 3.6% against 3.7% a month earlier. The underlying annual inflation rate lost 0.1 percentage point and stood at 4.8% in May 2023. The general index for the month of May expressed in base 100 in 2015 amounted to 120.07 points. The half-yearly average of the index connected to the 1 January 1948 base went from 972.61 to 975.66 points. The next indexing will be triggered when the value of 988.75 is reached.
