Austria's Inflation Rises to 3.6% in September as Fuel and Heating Oil Prices Climb
Statistics Austria's flash estimate, released in Vienna on Friday, October 2, put Austria's annual consumer price inflation at 3.6% in September, up from 3.2% in August and the highest reading since May. Prices rose 0.2% from the previous month. On the EU-harmonised measure (HICP), inflation was 3.5% year on year, up from 2.9% in August, with a monthly rise of 0.6%.
The statistics office attributed the renewed increase entirely to fuel and heating oil. Manuela Lenk, Statistics Austria's director general for statistics, said the 0.4-point rise was entirely due to higher fuel and heating oil prices. Energy prices overall were up 14.5% from a year earlier, a faster pace than August's 9.9% increase.
By category, services remained the largest contributor to overall inflation, with prices up 4.2% year on year, slightly less than August's 4.4%. Food, tobacco and alcohol rose 1.0%, after a 0.3% increase in August, while industrial goods rose 0.7%. Core inflation, excluding energy and food, stood at 3.0%. Euro-area inflation rose to 3.8% in September, above Austria's rate.
Responding to the figures, Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer of the People's Party said external factors such as international energy prices were beyond Austria's control, but that the government was acting where national measures were possible, citing the fuel price brake. A new round of the fuel price brake took effect on Thursday, October 1, initially running until November 30, with the stated aim of cutting pump prices by about 12 cents per litre. The Austrian National Bank has assessed that the mechanism is likely to lower inflation only slightly.
Also on Friday, Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer discussed inflation and the budget in an interview with public broadcaster ORF. The flash estimate is preliminary; final figures are confirmed in Statistics Austria's subsequent release.
Sources: Reuters, APA and the Statistics Austria flash estimate of October 2, 2026.
Source: 路透社、APA通讯社及奥地利统计局快速估算综合
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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