Living in France, i'm pretty surprised they manage to find a "cost of living index" being _lower_ now than in 2018.
Sure, things have recessed from the highs of 2022 / 2023, but the idea of a "groceries index" that does not reflect how is has changed to, ahem, shop for groceries is weird.
It's baselined against New York, so you can be more expensive, but not have had the cost of living grow faster than NYC.
This makes it alright for comparing between countries in a single year, but I'm not sure exactly what you get out of comparing the same country within a year.
Sure, things have recessed from the highs of 2022 / 2023, but the idea of a "groceries index" that does not reflect how is has changed to, ahem, shop for groceries is weird.