Euro Area CPI inflation confirmed at 2.4% in April

The annual CPI inflation rate in the Euro Area was confirmed at 2.4% in April, or unchanged from March and at a level unseen in nearly three years.

In comparison, inflation rate in the bloc stood at 7% in April last year.

Last month, services inflation slowed to 3.7% from 4% in March.

A slowdown was also recorded in cost of non-energy industrial goods (0.9% YoY compared to 1.1% YoY surge in March).

Energy prices continued to fall in April, by 0.6% YoY after a 1.8% YoY slump in March.

On the other hand, inflation picked up for food, alcohol and tobacco to 2.8% from 2.6% in March.

Annual core CPI inflation, which excludes volatile categories such as food and energy, decelerated for a ninth consecutive month in April to 2.7%. The latter has been the lowest core inflation rate since February 2022.

In month-over-month terms, consumer prices in the Euro Area went up 0.6%, following a 0.8% rise in March.

Meanwhile, the European Commission said in its Spring 2024 Economic Forecast that CPI inflation was on course to ease more rapidly than previously projected and reach 2.1% next year.

The EUR/USD currency pair settled with no change at 1.0867 on Friday. For the week, the major currency pair advanced 0.93%, while extending the gains from the previous four weeks.