Eurostat reported 0,2% annual inflation in the euro area for June 2015

Eurostat  confirmed today its initial estimates for annual inflation in the monetary union.

Euro area annual inflation for June 2015 was 0.2%, compared to 0.3% in May 2015 and 0.5% in June 2014.

Thus, inflation remains below the medium-term objective of the European Central Bank (ECB) from just under 2%. The Bank triggered a large-scale program for the purchase of assets in order to accelerate the pace of inflation.

Annual inflation in the European Union also slowed - to 0.1% compared to 0.3% in May. A year earlier the level was 0.7%.

The largest upward pressure came from restaurants & cafés (+0.09 percentage points), tobacco and rents (+0.07 pp each), fuels for transport (-0.38 pp), heating oil (-0.17 pp) and gas (-0.07 pp) contributed the most to easing. 

Separately, the statistical offices today gave preliminary data on the trade balance of the euro area in May. Exports increased by 3% yoy to 164.4 billion, while imports remained virtually unchanged at 145.6 billion Euro. So the surplus reached 18.8 billion Euros compared to 14.7 billion in May 2014.

For the first five months of the year, exports are up by 5% to 828.9 billion Euros, while imports increased by 1% to 734 billion Euros. Thus, the trade surplus amounted to 94.9 billion Euros to 60.2 billion for January-May 2014.