The final data published by Eurostat showed that consumer price growth accelerated last month, confirming experts' forecasts and preliminary estimates. Core inflation growth also accelerated after hitting a more than 2-year low in April.
According to the report, the consumer price index rose by 2.6% per year, as expected, after an increase of 2.4% per annum in April. European Union annual inflation was 2.7% in May, up from 2.6% in April.
Meanwhile, on a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose by 0.2%, confirming economists' forecasts and slowing compared to April (+0.6%). This was the fourth increase in a row, but the weakest in this series.
Eurostat reported that the core consumer price index - excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco - rose by 2.9% per year, as expected, after an increase by 2.7% per year in March. Core inflation accelerated for the first time in 10 months.
The data also showed that the largest contribution to the annual inflation was made by services (+1.83%), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.51%), non-energy industrial goods (+0.18%) and energy (+0.04%).
The lowest annual rates were registered in Latvia (0.0%), Finland (0.4%) and Italy (0.8%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (5.8%), Belgium (4.9%) and Croatia (4.3%). Compared with April, annual inflation fell in eleven Member States, remained stable in two and rose in fourteen.