The annual rate of inflation in Greece declined to 2.3% in May, according to Eurostat’s harmonized consumer price index (CPI), marking a sharp 0.9% drop from 3.2% in April 2024.
In April the CPI in Greece had dropped to 3.2% from 3.4% in March, compared to the Eurozone average which has remained unchanged at 2.4%.
The data showed that the main components driving inflation in the Eurozone, were services which are expected to show the highest annual rate in May at 4.1%, up from 3.7% in April. This is followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco at 2.6%, down slightly from 2.8% in April; non-energy industrial goods at 0.8%, down from 0.9% in April; and energy at 0.3%, recovering from -0.6% in April.
Germany’s inflation rate increased slightly more than expected in May, according to preliminary data from the German statistical office, while for the first time this year, France’s inflation accelerated, reflecting trends in other parts of Europe as the European Central Bank prepares to cut interest rates. Consumer prices in the Eurozone’s second-largest economy increased by 2.7% year-on-year in May, up from 2.4% in the previous month, according to the Insee statistics agency. This figure slightly exceeded economists’ average estimate of 2.6% in a Bloomberg survey.
