EMU July Headline Inflation Stable, Core Confirmed Higher

--Final Eurostat Data Sees EMU July HICP At 1.3% Y/Y

--Core Inflation Confirmed At 1.2% y/y vs June 1.1%

By Shaily Mittal

     LONDON (MNI) - Euro area July headline inflation was unchanged from the

June print, while the stubbornly low core reading was higher, according to final

data released by Eurostat on Thursday.

     The final July headline reading of 1.3% on the year was in line with

preliminary estimate, unchanged on the 1.3% recorded in June.

     February saw the headline inflation number pushed through the European

Central Bank's official inflation target for the first time since January 2013.

     Excluding energy and unprocessed food, inflation came in at 1.2% on the

year, above the 1.1% seen in June and the 0.9% seen in May.

     Category data show that this month's data was driven by energy, with an

annual rate of 2.2% following on from June's 1.9% and May's 4.5%. Unprocessed

foods were down to 0.6% versus 1.0% in June and 1.6% in May. Services inflation

remained broadly stable at 1.6% in July compared with last year, unchanged from

June's print. 

     In terms of sub-indices impacting euro area annual inflation, accommodation

services contributed the most (+0.1 percentage points), followed by package

holidays (+0.6 pp) and air transport (+0.05 pp). In contrast,

telecommunications, vegetables and fruits worked at dragging down inflation. 

     The highest annual inflation rates within EU-19 were recorded across the

Baltic region, with Lithuania at (4.1%), Estonia (3.9%) and Latvia (2.6%). 

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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