Based on its current estimates inflation peaked at 14.5% in September last year, which would have been between 7.6 and 8.1% based on the new method, CBS said. (Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Jan Harvey)
AMSTERDAM, March 2 (Reuters) - The Netherlands will
change the way it measures energy prices paid by consumers in
order to improve estimates of inflation in the euro zone's
fifth-largest economy, its statistics agency (CBS) said on
Thursday.
The agency said in November it was looking at a problem with
its energy price measurements, which it said had caused the
country - and possibly others in Europe - to overstate
inflation.
CBS currently uses only newly signed contracts to determine
gas and electricity costs in the basket of goods and services
purchased by a typical Dutch household, but many households have
older contracts struck at a lower price.
The agency said that from the first inflation estimate for
June, to be published on June 30, it would start using
transaction data from energy suppliers to determine the real
costs for consumers.
It said its research showed that inflation would have been
lower than reported between mid-2021 and the end of last year,
while the current methodology leads to an underestimation now
that energy prices have started to fall.
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