Inflation in Germany accelerated in September a little more than expected, and in other parts of the euro zone, enough to reinforce the European Central Bank to maintain a break in its rates, according to the provisional figures published on Tuesday. The consumer price index increased 2.4% for a year in September in the first European economy, after 2.2% in August and 2% in July and June, according to the Destatis Statistics Institute. The experts surveyed by Factstset were presenting 2.3%.
The increase in prices also manifested in other parts of the euro zone: inflation increased in France by 1.2%, after 0.9% in August, and in 2.9% in Spain, two more tenths for a month. The rate remained stable in 1.6% in Italy, even more than a year.
Raised everywhere in Europe
“The data from other countries in the euro zone show that the ECB were right at the end of monetary relaxation,” says Stephanie Schoenwald, KFW Public Bank economist. He also points out that “the pressure on prices in the services sector remains tenacious”, with an increase of 3.4% in September.
Changes in energy prices last year also explain fluctuations in the inflation rate. In September 2024, fuel prices had fallen abruptly, against -0.7% in the last month.
In September, the ECB maintained its interest rates unchanged, after having indicated that inflation “is currently around the medium -term target of 2%.” The evaluation of inflation perspectives “is, at this stage, reasonably favorable,” said Philip Lane, a ECB chief on Monday, during a colloquium in Frankfurt.
Source: BFM TV
