Euro zone May inflation confirmed at 6.1% yr/yr, core eases
5062 Mins Read
BRUSSELS, June 16 (Reuters) – Euro zone consumer inflation sharply decelerated in May, the European Union’s statistics office confirmed on Friday, with the core price growth measure, watched closely by the central bank, also slowing.
Eurostat confirmed its earlier estimates that consumer in the 20 countries did not change at all month-on-month in May resulting in a 6.1% rise year-on-year, down from 7.0% year-on-year in April.
The contribution from energy prices, long the main driving force of inflation, was negative in May at 0.09 points and the main driver became the cost of food, alcohol and tobacco which added 2.54 points to the final figure.
The second biggest contributor was the rising prices of services, adding 2.15 points, with industrial goods adding another 1.51 points.
The European Central Bank wants to keep inflation at 2 percent over the medium term and has been raising interest rates quickly since the middle of last year to curb inflation.
The ECB raised interest rates again on Thursday to a 22-year high of 3.50% and said it would move again in July, continuing what has been the fastest pace of monetary tightening in the bank’s quarter century existence.
Euro area inflation rates in % for main components, measured by HICPs
Weight (‰)
Annual rate
Monthly rate
2023
May 22
Dec 22
Jan 23
Feb 23
Mar 23
Apr 23
May 23
May 23
All-items HICP
1000.0
8.1
9.2
8.6
8.5
6.9
7.0
6.1
0.0
> excluding energy
897.7
4.6
7.2
7.3
7.8
7.9
7.4
7.0
0.3
> excluding energy, unprocessed food
852.7
4.4
6.9
7.1
7.4
7.5
7.3
6.9
0.3
> excluding energy, food, alcohol & tobacco
697.9
3.8
5.2
5.3
5.6
5.7
5.6
5.3
0.2
> excluding energy, seasonal food
872.3
4.6
7.2
7.3
7.7
7.7
7.4
6.9
0.3
> excluding tobacco
978.6
8.2
9.3
8.8
8.6
6.9
7.0
6.1
0.0
Food, alcohol & tobacco
199.8
7.5
13.8
14.1
15.0
15.5
13.5
12.5
0.4
> excluding processed food, alcohol & tobacco
154.8
7.0
14.3
15.0
15.4
15.7
14.6
13.4
0.5
> excluding unprocessed food
45.0
9.0
12.0
11.3
13.9
14.7
10.0
9.6
0.0
Energy
102.3
39.1
25.5
18.9
13.7
-0.9
2.4
-1.8
-2.1
Non-energy industrial goods
262.7
4.2
6.4
6.7
6.8
6.6
6.2
5.8
0.2
Services
435.3
3.5b
4.4b
4.4
4.8
5.1
5.2
5.0
0.2
The table includes the core rate of inflation referred to by the European Central Bank, which excludes volatile energy and unprocessed food costs.
