Belgium's inflation highest since 1976

ANKARA

Inflation in Belgium hit 9.94% in August, the highest since March 1976, official data showed Tuesday.

The figure was up from 9.62% in July, said Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.

Following the Europe-wide trend, energy prices were the main trigger for the high inflation.

"Energy currently has an inflation rate of 49.81% and accounts for 4.43 percentage points of the total inflation," it underlined.

Food prices have also sharply increased in recent months, with inflation for food products (including alcoholic beverages) standing at 9.71% this month. This contributed to 1.92 percentage points in the current inflation rate.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stands at 5.74% in August, compared to 5.49% in July.

The consumer price index this month rose by 0.81% in the month.