Belgium Inflation At 1-Year High

(RTTNews) - Belgium's consumer prices increased for the second straight month in May to mark the highest rate of inflation in more than a year, figures from Statistics Belgium showed Thursday.

The consumer price index rose 0.56 percent year-over-year in May, faster than previous month's 0.29 percent climb. In March, prices had fallen 0.40 percent.

The latest rate of inflation was the strongest since April 2014, when it amounted to 0.62 percent, the agency said.

The rise in May's index was mainly driven by the price increases for motor fuels, cut flowers and airplane tickets.

Excluding energy, inflation accelerated to 1.26 percent in May from 1.16 percent in April. Food inflation also grew to 1.28 percent from 0.60 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, eased to 1.14 percent in May from 1.19 percent in the preceding month.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices climbed 0.16 percent in May.