Eurozone CPI Hits New Record High of 8.1% in May
2022.05.31 12:11
By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — Inflation in the Eurozone surged to a new record high in May, piling more pressure on the European Central Bank to end its money-printing and bring its key interest rates back above zero.
Preliminary figures from Eurostat showed consumer price inflation rose to 8.1% in the 12 months through May, up from 7.4% in April and well ahead of analysts’ forecasts for a rate of 7.7%.
The monthly rise in prices of 0.8% was also above forecasts for 0.6%.
The development had been expected already after Germany, Spain and Belgium all reported above-consensus figures on Monday.
The euro weakened ahead of the release after two senior ECB officials, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau and his Italian counterpart Ignazio Visco, both signalled that they didn’t see the numbers as any reason to hike the ECB’s deposit rate by more than 25 basis points in July. That’s the course that the central bank’s President and chief economist have outlined in the last week.
