Eurozone Inflation Softens To 1.9%

(RTTNews) - Eurozone inflation eased more than expected in May largely due to the slowdown in services inflation, flash data from Eurostat showed on Tuesday.

Inflation softened to 1.9 percent in May, slightly below the central bank's target of 2 percent. Inflation was expected to slow to 2 percent from 2.2 percent in April.

Core inflation that strips out prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, slowed unexpectedly to 2.3 percent from 2.7 percent. The rate was seen at 2.4 percent.

On a monthly basis, the harmonized index of consumer prices remained flat in May. Among components of HICP, the annual increase in food, alcohol and tobacco prices advanced to 3.3 percent from 3.0 percent. Meanwhile, energy prices posted a steady decline of 3.6 percent.

Non-energy industrial goods prices rose 0.6 percent, the same rate of increase as seen over the past three months. By contrast, services inflation slowed to 3.2 percent from 4.0 percent in the previous month.