Belgian inflation rises to 5.26% in October, highest in over three years on energy costs

Headline inflation reaches a three-year high

Statbel, the Belgian statistics office, put inflation at 5.26% in October, up from 4.69% in September. The level is the highest in more than three years and the highest since April 2023. A household that spent 100 euros on an average basket in August 2025 now pays about 105.26 euros for the same goods and services. Statbel listed natural gas, electricity, private rents, heating oil, higher-education enrolment fees, clothing, holiday parks and campsites, and airfares as the main price increases in October. Package holidays and hotel rooms pulled the index down.

Energy drives the rise

Energy inflation has accelerated for three months, from 16.47% in August to 24.37% in September and 33.22% in October. Compared with the previous month, natural gas rose 11.3%, electricity 8.5% and heating oil 8.3%. Measured over twelve months, electricity is 23.7% dearer than in October 2025, heating oil 30.8% and natural gas 52.5%, while fuels cost 34.4% more. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine largely explain this sharp increase. Inflation fell back slightly in June after reaching just over 4% in April, and it has climbed steadily since July.

2026-08

16.47 %

2026-09

24.37 %

2026-10

33.22 %

Data from the article text

Core and wage-linked measures

Core inflation, which strips out energy and unprocessed food, eased to 2.80% in October from 3.00% in September. The health-index measure rose to 4.53% from 4% a month earlier. That measure excludes tobacco, alcohol, petrol and diesel, and it is calculated on a smoothed average over four months. Le Soir reports that the smoothed health index reached 101.72 points in October, close to the 102.29-point pivot that applies to civil servants and social benefits.

Headline inflation5.26%

Core inflation2.8%

Health-index inflation4.53%

Headline inflation

5.26 %

Core inflation

2.8 %

Health-index inflation

4.53 %

Data from the article text

Stijn Baert, a professor of labour economics, said the health-index figure is the one that wages follow.

“And this is the figure our wages follow, though it is calculated on a smoothed average over four months.”

Given the gap between headline inflation and the health-index measure, Baert concluded that the average household is again losing purchasing power.

Other price moves

External memory storage was 48.7% more expensive than a year earlier, a rise the sources tie to demand from artificial intelligence applications. That demand has created a shortage of hard drives and memory cards worldwide. Compared with September, student enrolment fees in higher education rose 20.7%, airfares 7.2%, holiday parks and campsites 4.2%, clothing 2.1% and private rents 1.5%. Cheaper package holidays fell 5.1% and hotel overnight stays fell 7.4% over the same month, which pushed the index down.