French Deficit Widens; German Inflation Flat at 2.3%

Arthi Gupta
12 Jul, 2011
New York City

Inflation in the euro area eased and Czech jobless rate dipped in June. Greek import price inflation slackened and French deficit widened in May.

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – Inflation in the euro area eased and Czech jobless rate dipped in June. Greek import price inflation slackened and French deficit widened in May.[/R]

French Inflation Rises

Inflation in France rose slightly in June, according to data released from the statistics office Insee today.

The annual consumer price inflation index in France rose marginally to 2.1% in June from 2% in May. Monthly inflation was at 0.1% in June, like in May.

The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices reported an annual increase of 2.3% in June as against the 2.2% rise in May.

German Inflation Flat

Germany''s inflation remained above the 2% threshold for the fifth consecutive month, the Federal Statistics Office said in its final report.

Consumer price annual inflation was 2.3% in June, in line with the flash estimate published on June 28. The annual inflation rate had also been 2.3% in May.

Consumer prices edged higher 0.1% on a monthly basis in June, after remaining flat in May.

Czech Inflation Slows

Czech annual inflation slowed to 1.8% in June from 2% in May, data from the Czech Statistics Office showed on Tuesday.

Consumer prices dropped 0.2% on a monthly basis in June, primarily reflecting a price decrease in food and non-alcoholic beverages. Prices of goods in total dropped 0.4% and prices of services increased 0.2%.

Hungary Inflation Eases

Inflation in Hungary slackened to 3.5% in June from 3.9% in May, data from the Central Statistics Office showed on Tuesday. On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.2% in June.

Food prices rose 6.7% annually in June compared to the 8.6% rise in May.

Swedish Inflation Drops

Swedish inflation eased to 3.1% in June from 3.3%t in May, data from Statistics Sweden showed on Tuesday.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.2% in June.

The statistics office said that the 3.1% increase in prices from last year was mainly led by a 9.5% surge in housing prices and 7.7% rise in transport costs.

Portugal Inflation Decreases

Portugal''s consumer price inflation index increased 3.36% from a year ago in June, slower than the 3.8% rise in May, data released by Statistics Portugal showed on Tuesday. The latest growth was the smallest since December 2010, when prices gained 2.5%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices decreased 0.2% in June, after dropping 0.1% in May.

Greek Import Price Inflation Slackens

Greek import price index grew 6.5% from a year ago in May versus the 8% rise recorded in April, data from the Hellenic Statistics Authority showed today. In May last year, import prices climbed 7.8%.

Import prices of intermediate goods rose 4.3% and capital goods prices climbed 0.1% in May. Prices of non-durable consumer goods edged up 0.8% but durable consumer goods prices dropped 0.3% in May.

On a monthly basis, import prices decreased 1.8% in May, reversing the 0.8% growth in April.

Czech Jobless Rate Dips

The Czech unemployment rate declined to 8.1% in June from 8.2% in May, the Labor Ministry said on Tuesday.

The unemployment rate for women was 9.5% and for men was 7%. The number of job seekers fell 11,181 to 478,775 in June.

French Deficit Widens

The French current account deficit rose to €5.5 billion in May, from the revised €5 billion in April, according to data released from the Bank of France today.

The goods account showed a shortfall of €7.7 billion in May, higher than €7.5 billion in April.