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The drop in energy costs was offset by rising prices in almost every other area of the 20 countries that share the euro. The data is known only one day after the European Central Bank increased its interest rates by another 50 basis points with the aim of reaching 2% by 2025.
Annualized inflation in the Eurozone fell in February by only one tenth of a point, when it reached 8.5% compared to 8.6% the previous month.
This time, food cannot be blamed for the slow cooling of the economy, as was the case with the preliminary data that The European Statistical Office (Eurostat) released at the beginning of the month. At that time, the prices of food, alcohol and tobacco were estimated to be the main drivers of inflation in the Eurozone.
And it is that, if the underlying inflation is reviewed, in which the changing prices of food and fuel are excluded, the rate jumped to 5.6% in February from 5.3% in January.
The new data puts pressure on the bloc’s monetary policy-making economists because underlying price growth, often driven by rising wages, it tends to raise headline inflation and creates a scenario that is complex to control.
With this behavior, it is also expected that this scenario, in general terms, will be replicated in the coming months, giving rise to a slight decrease in headline inflation and an increase in core inflation, something that would not take financial institutions by surprise. , since energy prices have dropped considerably after having passed an energy crisis on the continent, a consequence of the War in Ukraine.
With Reuters and local media.
