CdM | Eurozone inflation rose two tenths of a point in May to 2.6%, while the underlying rate, which excludes the impact of energy and food, also rose two tenths of a point to 2.9%, according to data published by Eurostat, the European Union (EU) statistics office. This means that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded its first increase since December last year, reaching the highest level since last February.
By component, the cost of fresh food accelerated by 0.6 percentage points to 1.8% and the price of energy rose by 0.3% after falling by 0.6% in April. Meanwhile, non-industrial energy goods moderated by two tenths of a percentage point, rising 0.7% in May.
In addition, the price of services reached its highest level since October 2023, rising by 4.1%, compared with 3.7% in April.
Across the EU, the headline inflation rate was 2.7 per cent in May, up from 2.6 per cent in April.
By country, the lowest annual rates were in Latvia (0%), Finland (0.4%) and Italy (0.8%). By contrast, the highest rates were in Romania (5.8%), Belgium (4.9%) and Croatia (4.3%).
