Eurozone inflation slows in June as energy prices cool

AFP , Wednesday 1 Jul 2026

Eurozone inflation slowed in June after spiking as the Iran war sent energy prices sky-high, new data showed Wednesday, boosting chances the European Central Bank will keep interest rates on hold.

Eurozone inflation
Eurozone inflation in food and services slowed in June, respectively down 0.3 points to 1.6 percent and 0.3 point to 3.2 percent. AP

 

Consumer prices in the 21-nation single currency area rose 2.8 percent compared with the same month a year earlier, down from 3.2 percent in May, said EU statistics agency Eurostat.

Cooling fuel prices following the US-Iran deal on ending the war were mostly to thank for the headline figure dropping back down towards the ECB's inflation target of two percent.

Energy prices rose 8.7 percent across the single-currency area in June, down from 10.8 percent in May.

Inflation in food and services also slowed, respectively down 0.3 points to 1.6 percent and 0.3 point to 3.2 percent, with inflation in industrial goods holding steady at 0.9 percent.

Coming a day after national data showed inflation slowing in all three of the eurozone's largest economies, France, Germany and Italy, the June fall was more marked than the 3.0 percent predicted by analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Of particular importance for the ECB, core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food prices, came back down to 2.4 percent, after ticking up to 2.6 a month earlier.

The tame inflation data raised hopes that the ECB, which raised rates last month for the first time since 2023, will not need to do so again when it next meets on July 23.

"This makes us more confident in our view that the ECB will not raise interest rates any further," wrote Jack Allen-Reynolds at Capital Economics, which predicted eurozone inflation would keep dropping to about 2.5 percent in July.

"The improving inflation outlook means we don't expect any further rate hikes," echoed Tomas Dvorak of Oxford Economics.

The central bank's president Christine Lagarde already told European lawmakers last week there was no need for "forceful" action, citing falling energy prices and the lack of knock-on effects like higher wage demands that could further stoke inflation.

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