Credit: STATEC
Luxembourg’s national statistical institute, STATEC, has reported that the annual inflation rate rose to 1% in December 2024.
In December, Luxembourg’s national consumer price index, calculated by STATEC, recorded a monthly increase of 0.1% driven largely by higher travel costs during the holiday period.
Seasonal factors significantly influenced the year-end inflation rate. Airfare prices surged by 25.6% compared to November 2024 and 4.5% compared to December 2023, reflecting the impact of school holidays. Package holiday prices also increased by 15.1% compared to the previous month.
After four months of consecutive declines, petroleum product prices saw a monthly rise of 1.0% in December. Diesel prices increased by 1.3%, while petrol prices rose by 0.5%. Heating oil experienced a sharper increase of 3.2%. Despite these monthly rises, petroleum product prices remained 8.1% lower than in December 2023.
Electricity tariffs decreased by 13.6%, and childcare and after-school programme fees dropped by 5.9% compared to November.
Food prices fell by 0.2% month-on-month, with notable declines for fresh fruit (-3.1%), fresh vegetables (-2.0%) and pizzas and quiches (-2.5%). Conversely, fresh fish (+5.2%), tea (+2.6%), and cheese (+0.7%) saw price increases. Alcoholic beverage prices decreased by 2.2%, driven by holiday promotions on spirits (-3.7%), wine (including sparkling wine, -2.6%) and fortified wine (-4.6%). On an annual basis, food prices were up 0.5%, while alcoholic beverages were down 0.4%.
The annual inflation rate rose to 1.0% in December 2024, up from 0.8% the previous month. The underlying annual inflation rate dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 1.5%. The general index for December, based on 2015=100, reached 122.43 points. The six-month moving average of the linked index (base set at 1 January 1948) fell from 1010.97 to 1010.02 points. The next wage indexation will occur when the value reaches 1013.46 points.
