Berlin, July 13, (dpa/GNA) – Germany’s annual inflation slowed in June amid a decline in energy and food costs, the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) said on Tuesday.
But at 2.3 per cent, the inflation rate in the 19-member eurozone’s biggest economy remained above the European Central Bank’s target of close to but below 2 per cent.
German inflation based on national standards stood at 2.5 per cent – its highest in nearly ten years, Destatis said. The June rate was in line with analysts’ forecasts.
While food prices rose 1.2 per cent on year in June compared with 1.5 per cent in May, Destatis said, energy costs also slipped.
Annual energy prices were up 9.4 per cent in June after 10 per cent in May as an easing of pandemic restrictions and the rollout of vaccination boosts global economic activity.
The ECB has previously downplayed concerns about the recent pickup in inflation across the currency bloc.
But the latest German price data comes ahead of next week’s meeting of the ECB’s rate-setting council, with the figures likely to feed the bank’s consideration of when to begin winding back its pandemic emergency programme.
The release of the German data coincided with a slight pick up in France’s European Union harmonized inflation rate, which is an important indicator for the ECB.
Annual inflation in France, the eurozone’s second-biggest economy, edged up to 1.9 per cent in June from 1.8 per cent in May, the Paris-based statistics office INSEE said.
Annual German inflation stood at 2.1 per cent in June from 2.4 per cent in May, based on EU-harmonized standards.
GNA