Rising prices stemming from the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and rising energy prices slowed growth in recent months. Eurozone inflation experienced a return to 7% in April, however, underlying inflation provided some relief by registering a decline for the first time in ten months, as confirmed by final data from the Community Statistics office, Eurostat.
The core CPI, which excludes the impact of energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco prices, experienced a slight decrease in April compared to the levels registered in the previous month, at 5.6% year-on-year. A decline that breaks with the continued growth since last June and leaves the level of 5.7% in March, 5.6% in February, or 5.3% in January.
The consumer price index in eurozone countries rose 7% in April, following 6.9% recorded in March, 8.5% in February, and 8.6% in the first month of the year. In the case of the European Union, the inflation rate fell from 8.3% registered in March to 8.1% or almost 10% in the first two months of the year.
Without considering the month of March, the inflation figures for April are the lowest in six months in the euro area, down from 10.1% recorded in November. The figure is down from 7.4% for the same month last year, marked by the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine and an energy supply crisis in the European Union.
In April, food, alcohol, and tobacco were the main contributors to annual inflation in the euro area, which increased by 2.75 percentage points, followed by services by 2.21% and non-energy industrial goods by 2.21%. Energy breaks with the trend with a contribution of 0.38 percentage points over the past few months.
Although inflation levels remain high and far from the 2% target set by the European Central Bank’s interest rate hike policy, the first contraction in core inflation in ten months could influence the decisions of the Christine Lagarde-led body as this indicator is important when designing your strategy.
In the country division, Spain ranks third among those who have recorded the lowest CPI level with 3.8%. However, Luxembourg ranks first, with an inflation rate of 2.7%, followed by Belgium with a rate of 3.3%.
Hungary, for its part, is the country with the highest inflation rate in April at 24.5%. It is followed, however, by Latvia at 15%, the Czech Republic at 14.3%, and Slovakia and Poland at 14% each.
