MILANO – The encouraging signals from European economies on the price front continue. After Germania e Italia France also observed a slowdown in inflation in July, to 4.3% from 4.5% in June, with growth of 0.1% on a monthly basis.
Inflation down to 5.9%: the drop in prices removes the ECB’s tightening by Flavio Bini 10 August 2023
The French statistical institute points out that the prices of foodstuffs are slowing down (+0.1% after +0.3%), while those of services are accelerating (+1.5% after +0.2%). On an annual basis, consumer prices grew by 4.3% in July 2023, after +4.5% in June. The slowdown in inflation is reportedly the result of a steeper year-on-year drop in energy prices compared to the previous month (-3.7% after -3.0%), and on the other hand a slowdown of food prices (+12.7% after +13.7%) and manufactured goods (+3.4% after +4.2%).
In the opposite direction, the Spanish figure, which however has been observing decidedly less worrying growth rates for months than those of the other European countries. In Spain, prices rose by 0.2% in July compared to the previous month and the annualized inflation rate rose by four tenths to 2.3%, mainly due to the increase in fuel prices and also the increase in food prices, which rose by five tenths to 10.8%.
With data confirmed on Friday by the National Statistical Institute INE, inflation resumed its upward trend, ending two consecutive months of declines that brought the June CPI to 1.9%, the lowest level from March 2021.
For its part, the INE confirmed that core inflation (excluding unprocessed food and energy products) increased by three tenths of a percentage point to 6.2% in July, placing it almost four points above the general CPI. The statistics attributed the increase in the overall CPI to the increase in the price of fuel and lubricants for personal vehicles, the increase in clothing and footwear, the increase in package holidays and the increase in food and alcohol-free drinks.
As regards the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Ine confirmed that their variation increased by five tenths of a percentage point and reached 10.8%, due to the fact that the prices of fruit and of oils, which increased by 10.8% in the first half of the year, were higher than in the second half of the year.