Inflation Inflation in the eurozone eases slightly to 2.5 percent in June
After a slight increase in the previous month, inflation in the eurozone slowed again in June to 2.5 percent.
02.07.2024, 11:31
SDA
The year-on-year price increase was therefore 0.1 percentage points lower than in May, as the EU statistics office Eurostat in Luxembourg announced in an initial estimate on Tuesday.
Among the individual eurozone countries, Belgium recorded the highest inflation rate in June at 5.5 percent, followed by Spain (3.5 percent), Croatia and the Netherlands (3.4 percent each). Eurostat reported low price increases for Finland (0.6 percent), Italy (0.9 percent) and Lithuania (1.0 percent). With an inflation rate of 2.5%, Germany is in line with the average of the 21 euro countries.
Falling inflation could pave the way for further interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB) in the medium term. At the beginning of June, the ECB cut its key interest rates for the first time in almost five years, by 0.25 percentage points each. However, there was also criticism of the decision, with some experts saying that the turnaround came too soon.
Services inflation high
Broken down by product group, however, the picture in June was mixed. Inflation in services in particular remained high. Compared to the same month last year, prices for services rose again in June by 4.1 percent. The rise in prices for food, alcohol and tobacco slowed slightly from 2.6% to 2.5%.
According to preliminary figures, prices for energy products rose slightly by 0.2 percent. They had fallen steadily year-on-year until April of this year, but this was mainly due to the high energy prices in the past two years as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
