Euro zone inflation hit a new record in June ahead of the European Central Bank’s first rate hike in 11 years.
The headline inflation rate came in at 8.6 percent (on an annual basis) for the last month, according to preliminary figures from the European Statistical Office, Eurostat. That beat expectations by 1% in a Reuters poll of economists.
The rate was 8.1 percent in May, which means that the cost of living continues to rise in the euro zone countries.
Germany surprised many earlier this week when it reported a 0.5 percentage point drop in inflation on a monthly basis. Experts said that this is due to the new government support to mitigate the impact of high energy prices, and that this did not reflect an end to high inflation rates.
But both France and Spain saw new inflation records in June, with the latter crossing the 10 percent threshold for the first time since 1985, according to “Reuters”.
