The annual inflation rate remained at 8.6% in June for the euro area, compared with 8.1% in May, marking the highest price uptick in the eurozone’s entire historical series and surpassing the European Central Bank’s price stability target of 2% by more than four percentage points. This assessment comes from Eurostat, the community statistics office.
In the broader European Union, price growth climbed to 9.6% in June from 8.8% in May, staying well above the 2.2% level recorded a year earlier.
Eurostat notes that the persistent price rise in the euro area during the sixth month of the year was driven in large part by a 42% year-on-year surge in energy costs, accelerating from 39.1% in May. Fresh food prices rose by 11.2% in June on an annual basis, up from 9% in May.
At the same time, services became more expensive, increasing by 3.4% year over year. Prices of non-energy industrial goods grew by 4.3% compared with 4.2% in May and fell slightly by a tenth from the previous month.
When energy effects are excluded from the calculation, the overall inflation rate in the euro area stands at 4.9% in June. Excluding fresh food, alcohol, and tobacco, core inflation sits at 3.7%, just below the record 3.8% reached in May, and higher than the 4.6% month-on-month figure.
Across the twenty-seven member states, inflation accelerated in June in all countries except Germany, where it eased from 8.7% to 8.2%, and the Netherlands, where it rose to 9.9% from 10.2% in May.
Estonia led price increases within the EU at 22%, followed by Lithuania at 20.5% and Latvia at 19.2%. The smallest upticks were seen in Malta at 6.1%, France at 6.5%, and Finland at 8.1%.
In addition to the three Baltic states, twelve other EU members recorded double-digit price growth, including the Czech Republic (16.6%), Bulgaria (14.8%), Poland (14.2%), Romania (13%), Hungary (12.6%), Slovakia (12.6%), Greece (11.6%), Slovenia (10.8%), Belgium (10.5%), Luxembourg (10.3%), and Spain (10%), with the Netherlands at 9.9%, Ireland at 9.6%, and Cyprus and Portugal at 9% each, all reporting at least 9%.
In Spain, the harmonized inflation rate held at 10% in June, unchanged from May, widening the price gap relative to the euro area average to 1.4 percentage points.
The European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council is scheduled to meet this Thursday and is anticipated to raise rates by 25 basis points, the first such move since 2011, a development announced on June 9. Officials also signaled the introduction of a new anti-fragmentation instrument intended to ensure the monetary policy transmission remains effective across all euro-area countries.