Europe sees inflation fall to 6.1%, but real relief for consumers will take months

The eurozone year-on-year inflation decreased nine tenths in May compared to the previous month, up to 6.1%, according to preliminary data published this Thursday by the community statistics office, Eurostat.

In the same way, core inflation (which excludes energy and unprocessed food from the calculation because they are more volatile) also slowed down its growth last month, from 7.3% in April to 6.9% in May.

This decrease is mainly explained by the behavior of energy products, whose price registered a fall of 1.7% in May, and also by the lower increase in the price of food, alcohol and tobacco, which went from growing a 13.5% in April to 12.5% ​​in May.

It was a positive sign that the explosion of price increases – which reached record double-digit numbers last October – is headed in the right direction.

But economists warn that it will be many months before disgruntled consumers see more normal inflation levels reflected on store labels. Although prices are rising more slowly, they add to already high costs caused by Russia’s war in the Ukraine and other factors.