The annual inflation rate in the euro zone increased slightly, to 7% in April, after 6.9% in March, interrupting a series of five consecutive monthly falls, Eurostat announced on Tuesday.
The figure is worse than the expectations of Factset and Bloomberg analysts who had expected a stagnation of 6.9%. It is expected to encourage the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise interest rates at a meeting on Thursday.
Inflation had reached a record in October, at 10.6%, after a year and a half of uninterrupted rise, accelerated by the war in Ukraine. Taking advantage of a drop in energy prices, it then fell from November to March, staying well above the 2% target set by the ECB.
Energy drives inflation up
In April, the consumer price index was driven by a rise in energy prices (fuel, electricity, gas, etc.), which rose 2.5% in one year, after a fall of 0.9 % in March.
Inflation was also boosted by a slight acceleration in the prices of services, which rose 5.2%, 0.1 point more than the previous month.
On the other hand, core inflation recorded an unexpected slowdown in the euro zone. This underlying inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, went from 7.5% to 7.3%. An even narrower measure, which also excludes alcohol and tobacco, rose 5.6% after 5.7%.
Holland and Italy rise again
This general European trend reflects the situation in various countries, such as the Netherlands, which rebounded in April after several months of decline to 5.2% year-on-year, compared to 4.4% in March. This price increase is mainly due to energy prices, which fell less last month (-21.8%) than in March (-28.2%), stressed the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
Complicated situation also in Italy, where the rise in prices accelerated in April, rising to 8.3% annually compared to 7.6% in March, according to provisional data published this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat). The slowdown in inflation observed in recent months “stopped in April, mainly due to the greater acceleration in the prices of energy products,” comments Istat.
Source: BFM TV
