Inflation in the Netherlands rose to 3.2% in January as food prices continued to rise, a first estimate published by Statistics Netherlands on Thursday showed.

Inflation in the euro zone's fifth-largest economy had slowed to 1.2% in the last month of 2023, following a steady decline throughout the year as energy prices fell from the peaks reached in 2022.

Food prices in the first month of 2024 were on average 4% higher than a year before, the data showed, while energy prices fell 2.2%. (Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Edmund Klamann)