Inflation dipped into negative territory in October, mainly due to a steep year-on-year drop in fuel prices, provisional figures compiled by the statistics agency CBS show.

The headline figure shows prices fell by -0.4% in the last year, down from September’s inflation rate of 0.2%. However, the CBS also found that prices had risen by 0.5% in the last month.

A 40% drop in fuel costs from last year, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a surge in gas prices, outweighed rises in other sectors, the statistics agency said.

Consumer prices excluding energy were up by 5.1% on an annual basis, down from 5.5% in September. Food prices were 8.7% higher, down from 10% last month, while inflation in the price of industrial goods also eased from 4.4% to 3.4%.

The CBS changed the way it measures energy costs in June to include the cost of existing energy contracts as well as new ones, better reflecting the prices consumers actually pay. However, it decided not to recalculate last year’s figures on the new scale.

Last October inflation was at 14.3% on the old measure, just below the previous month’s peak of 14.5%, before falling to 9.9% in November.

Rabobank’s alternative inflation monitor, which applies the CBS’s new criteria to last year’s data, puts the current rate at 7% in October, compared to 10% a year ago.

The CBS will publish its final inflation figures on November 7