Inflation amounts to 6.67%

Consumer prices
Inflation amounts to 6.67%

Consumer price index for March 2023

  • In March, inflation has slightly increased from 6.62% to 6.67%.
  • The consumer price index increased by 0.72 points or 0.57% this month.
  • Inflation based on the health index has risen from 6.84% to 7.35%.
  • The smoothed health index amounted to 125.08 points in March.
  • Inflation for food products has sharply increased in recent months. Food inflation (including alcoholic beverages) now stands at 17.02%, compared to 16.12% in February. The contribution of food products to inflation currently amounts to 3.12 percentage points.
  • Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stands at 8.57% in March, compared to 8.28% in February. This is due to the increase in inflation for processed food products and services.
  • The most significant price increases in March were registered for fruit, electricity, personal care, vegetables, confectionery, travels abroad, bread and cereals, restaurants and cafés and non-alcoholic beverages. However, natural gas and alcoholic beverages have had a decreasing effect on the index.

Inflation amounts to 6.67% in March compared to 6.62% in February and 8.05% in January. Inflation based on the health index increased to 7.35% this month compared to 6.84% in February and 8.28% in January. Inflation without energy increased to 9.25%, compared to 8.87% in February and 8.61% in January. Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stands at 8.57% in March, compared to 8.28% in February and 8.05% in January.

Comment on inflation

With regard to energy, we see a new significant decrease in inflation this month. It now stands at -10.11%, compared to -7.93% last month and 5.21% in January. For electricity, inflation is currently -2.3% compared to -16.0% last month. In December, it wass still 35.5%. For natural gas, it goes from -30.8% last month to -45.6% this month. In December, it was still 73.1%. Compared to last month, prices for natural gas decreased by 17.6% and those for electricity increased by 2.7%. Prices for domestic heating oil, calculated based on a smoothed 12-month moving average, have increased by 33.1% in a year. Motor fuels cost 9.5% less than in March last year and decreased by 0.9% this month compared to the previous month.

Inflation for services has increased to 7.06% up from 6.96%. Inflation for rents has decreased to 6.11% from 6.16%. Food inflation (including alcoholic beverages) now stands at 17.02% compared to 16.12% last month. This inflation has increased sharply in recent months. In March last year, it was still 4.63%.

In particular, inflation for oils, fish, dairy products, bread and cereals and meat has sharply increased in recent months. Inflation for oils stands this month at 25.4%. In March 2022, it was still 12.8%. For fish, inflation is now 17.0% compared to 5.5% in March 2022. Inflation for dairy products amounts to 26.5% this month compared to 5.8% in March 2022. For bread and cereals, inflation stands at 19.9% this month compared to 5.5% in March last year. Inflation for meat amounts to 15.3% this month compared to 3.7% in March 2022.

The decrease in inflation in recent months is associated with lower energy prices. Energy inflation goes from -7.93% in February 2023 to -10.11% in March 2023 and accounts for -1.49 percentage points to total inflation. With an inflation of 17.02%, food products account for 3.24 percentage points.

The price of natural gas has decreased by 17.6% on average compared to the previous month. The price of electricity has increased by 2.7% on average this month.

Some products and services that rose sharply in price compared to March last year are:

Upward: Inflation
Wood and other solid fuels 52.2%
Eggs 34.0%
Whole milk 33.8%
Other edible oils than olive oil (e.g. frying oil) 33.4%
Liquid fuels 33.1%
Skimmed and semi-skimmed milk 30.2%
Pizza and quiche 27.7%
Sugar 27.2%

Some products and services that fell sharply in price compared to March last year are:

Downward: Inflation
Natural gas -45.6%
Other fuels (LPG) -21.7%
Diesel -13.9%
Televisions -13.0%
Other information processing equipment (e.g. smartwatch) -5.2%
Petrol -4.5%
Smartphone -4.4%
Petroleum gas -3.0%

The main group with the largest upward effect [i] on inflation in March was “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” with an effect of 2.36 percentage points. The largest downward effect was measured for “Housing, water and energy” (-2.01 percentage points).

The main group with the largest contribution [ii] to inflation is “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” with 3.12 percentage points. The lowest contribution to inflation was registered by the main group “Housing, water and energy”, with -0.36 percentage points.

The first inflation estimate according to the European harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP flash estimate) for Belgium amounts to 4.9% for Mars 2023.

Comment on the level of the indices

The consumer price index rose by 0,72 points or 0.57% in March 2023 and now stands at 127.67 points, compared to 126.95 points in February 2023 (2013=100). The health index has increased by 0.94 points to 127.80 points in March, compared to 126.86 points in February. The smoothed health index amounted to 125.08 points in March. The next central index for public service and social benefits is set at 125.60 points.

The most significant price increases in March were registered for fruit, electricity, personal care, vegetables, confectionery, travels abroad, bread and cereals, restaurants and cafés and non-alcoholic beverages. However, natural gas and alcoholic beverages have had a decreasing effect on the index.

The most important trends this month are:

Upward: Effect: Downward: Effect:
Fruit +0.135 points Natural gas -0.380 points
Electricity +0.125 points Alcoholic beverages -0.115 points
Personal care +0.095 points    
Vegetables +0.095 points    
Sugar and confectionery +0.085 points    
Travels abroad +0.080 points    
Restaurants and cafés +0.065 points    
Non-alcoholic beverages +0.065 points    

Prices for fruit increased by 7.3% on average this month. The price of electricity has increased by 2.7% on average in March. Personal care have increased by 2.9% on average. Vegetables were on average 3.8% more expensive this month. Sugar and confectionery were on average 6.2% more expensive in March. Travels abroad registered a price increase of 3.6% on average. Bread and cereals rose by 1.7%. On average, restaurants and cafés cost 0.8% more and vehicles 0.6% more.

Prices for natural gas decreased this month by 17.6%. Prices for alcoholic beverages decreased by 5.1%.


[i] The effect on inflation shows the changes on the inflation rate by including this product group in the CPI calculation. The effect not only takes the weight of the product group into account, but it also takes into account whether the product group inflation is higher or lower than that of the total expenditure (overall CPI).

[ii] The contribution to inflation of a specific product group shows how much of the change in the total expenditure is due to the price variation of this product group.