Luxembourg’s annual inflation rate fell to 1.7% in February, according to data released by the country’s official statistics agency Statec on Wednesday.
Although the inflation rate has fallen from just over 1.9% in January and remains below the European Central Bank target rate of 2%, the February level is well above the 1% rate recorded in December.
Compared to the previous month, inflation rose by 1.2%, which Statec said was mainly due to the end of sales. Taking the impact of the January sales out of the calculations, Statec estimated that inflation would have increased by 0.4% compared to a month earlier.
Several other items saw a steep increase in prices in February compared to January, including package holidays – which were up by over 14% – and plants and flowers, which rose by 7.5% as Valentine’s Day arrived.
Food prices remained stable compared to the previous month, Statec said, but were 0.9% higher than in February 2024.
On Monday, the EU’s official statistics agency Eurostat calculated the annual rate of inflation in Luxembourg as 1.9% in February, down from 2.4% in January.
Across the eurozone, inflation cooled to 2.4% in February, dropping marginally from 2.5% recorded in January, according to Eurostat.
The figures released by Statec and Eurostat usually show variations, as the two agencies apply different methodologies.
In January, Statec said it expects inflation to rise in 2025, citing the removal of energy price cap measures as a key driver in taking inflation to 2.1% this year, before falling to 1.8% in 2026.
The rise in inflation will likely see a wage indexation in Luxembourg in the second quarter of 2025, a forecast confirmed by Statec in Wednesday’s report.