Inflation rate dips slightly but remains high at 6.2%

Dutch inflation was 6.2 percent last month, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. That is slightly lower than in January when inflation provisionally peaked at 6.4 percent, and the first drop since the middle of last year when energy prices started to rise.

Apart from the energy bill, furniture and food also become more expensive. Prices for mobile phones fell. Education also became a bit cheaper.

The prices for gas and oil have risen further due to the war in Ukraine. Because energy prices have been pushing inflation for months, CBS will investigate how it includes these figures in inflation calculations. The energy prices Dutch households pay don't move monthly, so the monthly energy increases included in the inflation may not be a good picture of the price increases that consumers really feel, the stats offices said.

CBS previously reported that inflation fell in February according to the European harmonized method. According to that calculation, the currency depreciation amounted to 7.2 percent. The main difference between the two methods is that the costs of living in an owner-ocucpied home are not included in the European method.