Food Prices in the Eurozone Soar

The euro area inflation rate continued to decline in June 2023 as energy costs fell but food and drink prices remained high, official data released on Friday showed.

Consumer prices rose by 5.5% this month, compared to 6.1% in May 2023, according to the European Union’s Eurostat agency.

The improvement was slightly better than analysts had expected, which indicated a level of 5.6 percent.

With consumer prices still above the ECB’s 2% target, analysts expect interest rates to continue rising.

According to Eurostat, food and drink prices rose by 11.7% in June 2023, compared to 12.5% ​​in May 2023.

The agency said that energy price inflation in the euro area has eased as it fell by 5.6 percent in June 2023 after recording a decline of 1.8 percent in May 2023.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, rose to 5.4 percent in June 2023 from 5.3 percent in May 2023.

Core inflation is a leading indicator for the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank.

Germany:

Annual inflation in Germany, Europe’s biggest economic power, rose to 6.4% in June 2023 from 6.1% in May 2023, according to official data released Thursday.

However, Spain recorded a slowdown in annual inflation, which reached 1.9 percent in June 2023, thanks to lower fuel, electricity and food prices.

Eurostat reported that among the twenty countries using the euro, Luxembourg recorded the lowest inflation rate of 1.0 percent in June 2023.

According to other data from Eurostat, released on Friday, the unemployment rate in the euro area remained stable in May 2023 at 6.5 percent.

Source: AFP.