BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Almost half of the record high inflation in the euro zone in June resulted from the energy price spike, the EU’s statistics office said on Tuesday, with more expensive food the second biggest factor and services the third.
Eurostat confirmed its earlier estimate that consumer prices in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 8.6% year-on-year in June, marking another record jump after an 8.1% rise in May and a 7.4% increase in April.
Energy prices contributed 4.19 percentage points to the overall year-on-year reading, food, alcohol and tobacco another 1.88 points and services 1.42 points, Eurostat said.
The highest year-on-year inflation rate in the euro zone was in Estonia where prices surged 22% in June. Lithuania had inflation of 20.5%, Latvia 19.2% and Slovakia 12.6%.
Price growth was lowest in Malta with 6.1%, France at 6.5% and Finland with 8.1%. Germany’s inflation rate was 8.2%.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
