Consumer price index of December 2024

• Inflation in December goes from 3.20% to 3.16%.
• The consumer price index this month increases by 0.53 points or 0.40%.
• Inflation based on the health index has fallen to 3.24% from 3.63%.
• The smoothed health index amounted to 130.42 points in December.
• Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stood at 2.91% in December, compared to 2.80% in November.
• The most significant price increases in December concerned travels abroad and city trips, electricity, natural gas, hotel rooms, motor fuels, plane tickets, private rent, restaurants and cafés. However, clothes, household appliances and repairs, fruit, data processing equipment, holiday villages and smartphones have had a decreasing effect on the index.

Inflation was running at 3.16% in December compared to 3.20% in October and November. Inflation based on the health index amounted to 3.24% this month compared to 3.63% in October and November. Inflation without energy amounts to 2.79% in December compared to 2.59% in November and 2.81% in October. Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, amounts to 2.91% in December, compared to 2.80% in November and 3.01% in October.

Comment on inflation

With regard to energy, the inflation now stands at 7.40%, compared to 9.44% last month and 7.26% in October. For electricity, inflation is currently at 12.6% compared to 15.2% last month. For natural gas, it went from 111.3% last month to 59.2% this month. Compared to the previous month, prices for natural gas increased by 3.8% and those for electricity by 4.9%. The increase in inflation in recent months is the result of the extinction of the impact of the basic package for electricity and natural gas. In March, the last effect of the basic package disappeared from the index. The disappearance of the basic package will have an increasing effect on inflation until February 2025. Prices for domestic heating oil, calculated based on a smoothed 12-month moving average, have declined by 9.1% over a year. Motor fuels cost 3.5% less than in December last year and increased by 1.1% this month compared to the previous month.

Inflation for services has increased to 3.94% from 3.52%. Inflation for rents has decreased from 4.50% to 4.22%. Inflation for food products (including alcoholic beverages) stands at 1.85% this month, compared to 0.80% last month. This is largely a base effect; compared to last month, prices rose by 0.04%. 

Energy inflation goes from 9.44% in November to 7.40% in December and accounts for 0.58 percentage points to total inflation. Food, with an inflation rate of 1.85%, accounts for 0.38 percentage points.

The price of natural gas has increased by 3.8% in December compared to the previous month. Prices for electricity have gone up by 4.9% on average this month.

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

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

The main group with the largest upward effect ^[i] on inflation in December was “Housing, water, energy” with an effect on inflation of 0.73 percentage points. The largest downward effect was measured for “Transport” with  -0.32 percentage points.

The main group with the largest contribution ^[ii] to inflation is “Housing, water and energy” with 1.08 percentage points. The smallest contribution to inflation was made by the groups “Education” and “Interior decoration and household appliances” with 0.01 percentage points.

The first inflation estimate according to the European harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP flash estimate) for Belgium amounts to 4.4% in December 2024.

Comment on the level of the indices

The consumer price index has increased by 0.53 points or 0.40% in December and now amounts to 133.54 points, compared to 133.01 points in November (2013=100). The health index has gone up by 0.51 points to 133.73 points in December, compared to 133.22 points in November. The smoothed health index amounted to 130.42 points in December. The next central index for public service and social benefits is set at 130.67 points.

The most significant price increases in December concerned travels abroad and city trips, electricity, natural gas, hotel rooms, motor fuels, plane tickets, private rent, restaurants and cafés. However, clothes, household appliances and repairs, fruit, data processing equipment, holiday villages and smartphones have had a decreasing effect on the index.

The most important trends this month are:

Travels abroad and city trips became on average 8.6% more expensive this month. Prices for electricity and natural gas have increased this month on average by 4.9% and 3.8% respectively. Hotel rooms have become 5.1% more expensive this month. Prices for motor fuels have gone up on average by 1.1%. Plane tickets became on average 6.6% more expensive than last month. Private rent increased in price by 0.4% on average. Prices in restaurants and cafés have gone up by 0.3% on average.

Clothes have become on average 1.5% less expensive. Household appliances and repairs became on average 7.9% less expensive than last month. Prices of fruit have decreased on average by 3.1%. Computers and accessories have become on average 9.3% less expensive. Prices of holiday villages have decreased on average by 2.9%. Smartphones became on average 11.7% cheaper this month.

^[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.