Eurozone inflation slows to 8.6% in January
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Annual inflation in the euro area in January slowed to 8.6% after 9.2% in December 2022, follows from the revised estimates Eurostat.
In November last year, this figure was 10.1%, in October – a record 10.6%. Initially, Eurostat reported an 8.5% increase in consumer prices in January. At the same time, the core inflation indicator (growth in prices excluding energy and food) rose to 5.3%, and not 5.2%, as previously reported.
The lowest inflation rates were recorded in Luxembourg (5.8%), Spain (5.9%), Cyprus and Malta (6.8% each). Prices rose the most in Hungary (26.2%), Latvia (21.4%) and the Czech Republic (19.1%). Compared to December last year, annual inflation fell in eighteen EU member states and rose in nine.
According to Eurostat, food prices rose from 13.8% in December to 14.1% in January, while non-energy manufactured goods increased from 6.4% to 6.7%. At the same time, the rise in energy prices slowed down from 25.5% to 18.9%.
How noted experts interviewed earlier by Vedomosti, eurozone inflation has been progressively slowing down since October, and this decline now looks like an established trend, a significant part of the contribution to it is made by the fall in energy prices after a multiple increase in average annual rates from April to September. Alexander Knobel, head of the international trade research laboratory at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEI) of the RANEPA, called the signs of a trend reversal not very convincing.
Earlier on February 2, the Board of Governors of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided raise all three key interest rates by 50 bp. The interest rate was increased to 3%, the deposit rate to 2.5% and the ECB margin loans to 3.25%.
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