Berlin, May 30, 2025 (AFP)
Inflation in key eurozone countries hovered around the European Central Bank's two-percent target in May, official data published Friday showed, as policymakers for the single currency area look set to cut rates again.
Consumer prices in Germany rose at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in May, according to preliminary data from federal statistics agency Destatis.
The inflation figure for the eurozone's largest economy was the same as last month's and exactly in line with the expectations of analysts surveyed by the financial data firm FactSet.
In Spain, inflation fell to 1.9 percent in May, down from 2.2 percent in April, the local National Statistics Institute said.
The pace of consumer price rises was slower in Italy, where the inflation rate fell to 1.7 percent in May from 1.9 percent the previous month.
In Portugal, meanwhile, the indicator rose to 2.3 percent from 2.1 percent.
The latest inflation data will feed into the calculations being made by ECB policymakers at their meeting in Frankfurt next week.
The central bank looks set to lower interest rates for the seventh time in a row when it announces its decision on Thursday.
As inflation rates across the eurozone have come down their peak, the ECB has switched its focus from consumer price rises to supporting the bloc's flagging economy.
US President Donald Trump's volatile trade policies have only added to the concerns for businesses in the single currency area and moved the ECB towards more rate cuts.
The first inflation estimate for the whole of the eurozone in May will be published on Tuesday.
The ECB is also set to release its own set of forecasts on Thursday, which could show inflation coming down faster than previously expected.
A downward revision to the inflation forecast would "tilt the balance" in the ECB's thinking towards another quarter-point cut to interest rates, ING bank analyst Carsten Brzeski said.
Such a move would leave the central bank's benchmark deposit rate at two percent.
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Sumber : AFP