Inflation1.8 percent in March

According to Statistics Netherlands’ consumer price index, inflation in the Netherlands was 1.8 percent in March 2005. This is 0.2 of a percent point higher than in February, when prices were 1.6 percent higher than twelve months previously.  Fresh vegetables in particular cost more in March. Dutch inflation according to the harmonised calculation of the European Union was the same as in February: 1.5 percent.

Prices 0.9 percent higher in March than in February

Consumer prices were 0.9 percent higher on average in March than in February. The largest increase was for clothes and shoes, but this is normal for this time of year as the new summer collections are introduced. In addition, substantial price rises were measured for motor fuels and for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Inflation higher

Inflation rose to 1.8 percent in March. Food, especially fresh vegetables, contributed most to the increase. Fresh vegetables cost some 25 percent  more than in March last year. Inflation was tempered by the increase in prices of tobacco products introduced in March last year, which now no longer has an effect on inflation.

Inflation unchanged according to European calculation

According to the European harmonised index (HICP), Dutch inflation was 1.5 percent in March 2005. This is the same rate as in February. Inflation according to the HICP was 2.1 percent on average in the Eurozone in February 2005. With 1.5 percent t, the Netherlands had the second lowest rate of inflation in the Eurozone for the eleventh month in succession. Only in Finland was inflation lower. Outside the Eurozone, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic also had lower inflation rates than the Netherlands. Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, expects inflation in the Eurozone to remain unchanged at 2.1 percent in March.

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