MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2023) The eurozone's annual inflation reached 7% in April, growing from 6.9% in the previous month, the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, said on Tuesday.
Food, alcohol and tobacco, which are the main components of inflation in the euro area, had the highest annual rate, slowing down to 13.6%, compared to 15.5% in March, according to Eurostat's forecast. Prices for non-energy industrial goods grew by 6.2 in year-on-year, while services and energy became 5.2% and 2.5% more expensive.
The highest inflation was registered in Latvia - 15% in annual terms, compared to 17.2 in March. Belgium, apart from Luxembourg with its 2.7% rate, enjoyed the lowest price surge of 3.3% year-on-year.
Eurostat's expectation coincided with the forecast of analysts polled by the DailyFX portal.
Full data, with revised and adjusted figures, on inflation in the euro area will be released on May 17.
Meanwhile, annual inflation in the Netherlands rose to an estimated 5.2% in April, the country's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said.
"Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports in a flash estimate that the CPI-measured inflation rate stood at 5.2 percent in April," the statistics bureau said in a statement
The increase in the price level is explained by the volatility of energy prices, which fell by 22% in April and 28% in March.
Annual inflation in the Netherlands slowed to 4.4% in March from 8% in February due to lower electricity prices.
