The annual rate of inflation rose slightly to 8% in February, national statistics agency CBS said in a flash estimate on Thursday. In January inflation had fallen to 7.6%.

Food, beverages and tobacco are now 15.1% more expensive than they were a year ago, while energy is actually 1.1% cheaper, the CBS said.

The CBS is planning to change the way it calculates energy charges to reflect actual prices, rather than new contracts, and that will come into effect in June.

Calculated according to European methods, which does not include the cost of rental housing like the Dutch system, inflation hit 8.9% in February, up from 8.4% in January.

The finalised February inflation figure will be published later this month.