Eurostat: Inflation in Greece at 2.4% in June

Inflation in Greece stood at 2.4% in June (the same as in May), slightly above the 2.5% rate for the eurozone (down from 2.6% in May), according to data released by the European Union’s statistical authority, Eurostat.

Services are set to record the highest rise in cost in the eurozone in June (4.1%) followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco (2.5%, down from 2.6% in May), non-energy industrial goods (0.7%, unchanged from May), and energy (0.2%, down from 0.3% in May).

Greeks have been struggling with high food costs for over a year and the government’s efforts to combat the rising prices through a series of measures have so far proven largely unsuccessful.

Core inflation, which excludes the calculation of volatile fuel and unprocessed food prices, also slightly declined to 2.8% annually from 2.9% a month earlier.

Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany saw its consumer price index ease off after a 2-month acceleration, to 2.5% year-on-year in June down from 2.8% in May. Energy costs continued to decline, while service prices remained steady at 3.9%.

The price indicator in France fell to 2.5% in June, slowing down compared to the previous month.

The slowdown in energy and food prices contributed to the reduction in the overall CPI, according to the National Statistics Agency. The decline from May’s 2.6% was in line with economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll.

Italy, Lithuania, Ireland, and Slovenia recorded the lowest rates, according to the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), while Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands registered the highest rates for the month of June.