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German inflation continues to slow in July

Xinhua, July 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

German inflation continued to slow and hit a five-month low level in July, official data showed on Thursday, raising pressures on the European Central Bank (ECB) to continue its expansionary monetary policy.

Compared with the same month of previous year, consumer prices in Germany rose merely by 0.2 percent in July, said German federal statistical office Destatis, citing preliminary calculations.

It was the weakest reading since February when annual inflation rate in Europe's biggest economy revived from a negative territory. The downward trend started on May when the annual inflation reached 0.7 percent.

According to Destatis, the weak inflation in July was mainly due to falls in energy prices which declined by 6.2 percent year on year.

When measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), ECB's yardstick, German inflation rate in July remained at 0.1 percent, unchanged from June.

Analysts said the data on Thursday suggested that the ECB's one-trillion-euro quantitative easing (QE) had yet received desired effects and raised pressure on the eurozone's central bank to continue its expansionary monetary policy.

The annual inflation in the eurozone was scheduled to be released on Friday. Analysts expected that the reading would also remain weak.

In June, the eurozone saw an inflation rate of 0.2 percent, far below the ECB's target of "below, but close to 2 percent". Endit