The rate of inflation in the Netherlands reached a 40-year high of  6.4% in January, when calculated according to the Dutch system, national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday.

In December inflation reached 5.7% and its continued rise has been driven by the price of energy and food, the CBS said.

By last month, the price of gas, electricity and district heating had risen 90% when compared with the year earlier period and now accounts for some three percentage points of the total inflation figure.

The CBS said last week that when calculated using official EU methods, inflation was 7.6%.

The main difference between the two systems is the role of housing. The European system for calculating inflation, or HICP, does not include housing costs, but the CPI, or Dutch system, includes developments on the rental housing market.

In January, the Netherlands had the sixth highest inflation rate in the eurozone. In neighbouring Belgium, the figure was 8.5%, in Germany 5.1% – the eurozone average.