Eurozone inflation falls to 2.4%
17/08/2006 - 11:24:38Inflation in the 12 nations that use the euro fell to 2.4% in July, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said today, revising downwards an earlier forecast of 2.5% for the month.
Year-on-year inflation hit a high for the year in May and June at 2.5%, fuelling the case for the European Central Bank to raise interest rates several times in recent months.
Eurostat said high prices at fuel pumps and the cost of natural gas for heating were still the largest factors pushing up inflation over the year, while lower prices for telecoms and clothes were having a lesser, calming effect.
