Inflation in the eurozone has fallen by half in the past nine months, providing the European Central Bank with leeway to relax its interest rate-raising campaign.
Annual consumer prices growth in the single currency bloc, which is made up of 20 member states, cooled to 5.3 per cent in July, down from 5.5 per cent in June, continuing a slide from the record high of 10.6 per cent in October last year, Eurostat, the bloc’s statistics office, confirmed.
Core inflation, however, remains sticky. Prices growth excluding the more volatile costs of food and energy, a measure closely watched by the ECB, was flat at 5.5 per cent. Services inflation, which is heavily influenced by wages, rose to 5.6 per cent from 5.4 per cent.
Christine Lagarde has kept open the option of increasing interest rates further
RONALD WITTEK/EPA
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