MADRID, 20 (EUROPA PRESS)
The eurozone's annual inflation rate remained unchanged at 2% in July, in line with the European Central Bank's (ECB) medium-term stability objective for the second consecutive month, while prices across the EU rose by 2.4%, up one-tenth of a percentage point, according to Eurostat.
In the eurozone, energy prices fell 2.4% year-on-year in July, following a 2.6% drop the previous month, while the cost of fresh food rose 5.4% year-on-year, accelerating from the 4.6% increase seen in June.
Meanwhile, non-energy industrial goods rose 0.8% year-on-year, three-tenths of a percentage point more than the previous month, but the cost of services slowed its increase to 3.2%, down from 3.3% the previous month.
Thus, excluding the impact of energy from the calculation, the eurozone's annual inflation rate in July remained at 2.5%. As for the underlying inflation rate, which excludes fresh food, alcohol, and tobacco in addition to energy prices, this benchmark was repeated in July at 2.3%.
Among EU countries, the lowest inflation rates in July were recorded in Cyprus (0.1%), France (0.9%) and Ireland (1.6%), while the largest price increases were recorded in Romania (6.6%), Estonia (5.6%) and Slovakia (4.6%).
In Spain's case, the harmonized inflation rate in July rose to 2.7% from 2.3% in June, thus widening the unfavorable price differential with respect to the eurozone to seven-tenths of a percentage point.
