Inflation remains silent in the euro zone after hitting a record in October and is now at 5.5%, with Luxembourg (1%), Spain and Belgium (1.6%) leading the decline. They are the only countries to fall below the European Central Bank’s target of 2%. Spain is the major country with the lowest inflation, almost four points ahead of the next country, France (5.3%). Italy (6.7%) and Germany (6.8%) continue to have rates above the EU average, which is 6.4%.
Inflation fell by six tenths in June in euro zone countries, from 6.1% in May to 5.5% and almost three points compared to the situation in which the continent found itself a year ago. In June 2022, inflation in the euro zone was 8.6%.
Despite the overall decline, some countries continue to record very high double-digit rates. Hungary is at the top with 19.9%. This is followed by Slovakia (11.3%), the Czech Republic (11.2%) and Poland (11%). However, the decline occurred in all 27 countries except Germany, where it increased by five tenths.
Further reasons for the ECB
What has increased, however, is core inflation (5.5%), the rate that excludes energy, food, tobacco and alcohol, which are more volatile. The European Central Bank takes this into account when designing its monetary policy. This means that the institution led by Christine Lagarde continues to have arguments for increasing interest rates, which have multiplied from 0 to 4% in the last year.
Behind the easing of inflation is the decline in energy prices, which have been falling for several months in a row after soaring during the worst phase of the energy crisis last summer. In June the decline was 5.6%. In percentage terms, it contributed to a reduction of 0.57.
On the contrary, food, alcohol and tobacco contributed 2.35 percentage points to the rate, although their inflation weakened by nine tenths (11.6%) in June. Services recorded an increase of four tenths (5.4%).
