Eurozone inflation trends in the last reported period show a modest uptick. In April, the annual rate rose by one tenth of a percentage point, reaching 7.0% after 6.9% the previous month. This followed a softer pace across the European Union as a whole in March, when the rate eased to 8.1% from 8.3% in the prior month, according to Eurostat data, which continues to show five consecutive months of moderation across the bloc.
The Netherlands and larger EU economies experienced the widest disparities in annual inflation. The lowest rates among EU member states were seen in Luxembourg, at 2.7%, Belgium at 3.3%, and Spain at 3.8%. In contrast, Hungary reported the highest annual rate at 24.5%, Latvia at 15.0%, and the Czech Republic at 14.3% during the same period, highlighting the uneven transmission of price pressures across the union.
Within the euro area itself, energy prices rose 2.4% year on year in April, following a 0.9% month-on-month decline. Food prices fell markedly, dropping from 14.7% to 10% on an annual basis, marking a continued easing of food inflation after a period of sharp increases.
Across services, prices increased by 5.2% in April compared with a year earlier, a tenth of a percentage point higher than in March. Non-energy industrial goods also climbed, but at a slower pace of 6.2% year on year, down from March’s pace by about four tenths of a percentage point.
When the effects of energy are excluded, the annual inflation rate edges up from 7.9% to 7.4% in April relative to March. Excluding food, alcohol, and tobacco, the core inflation rate slightly eased from 5.7% to 5.6% in the same period, illustrating the mixed dynamics within the broader inflation mix.
Overall, the eurozone’s core inflation rate registered its first notable moderation in April since a sequence of nine consecutive monthly increases began to ease. This shift suggests that inflationary pressures are moving with more dispersion across categories and countries, rather than uniformly across the euro area, a pattern that policymakers will watch closely in the coming months [Eurostat].