Germany’s consumer price inflation during the month of July exceeded market expectations, a positive signal that the country’s consumer prices are nearing the central bank’s targeted rate of price growth in the 19-area currency bloc.
The consumer price index-led inflation rate rose to 0.4 percent in July from 0.2 percent in June, data released by the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden showed Thursday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted a pickup to 0.3 percent. Prices increased 0.4 percent from the previous month.
The report from Europe’s largest economy comes a week after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said he won’t hesitate to add fresh stimulus if the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union harms growth and prices in the bloc, Bloomberg reported.
Meanwhile, a recent central bank survey showed the professional forecasters lowered their forecast for euro-area inflation in 2017 and the following year. Before the German data was released, euro area economists estimated that the zone’s inflation will hold steady at 0.1 percent in July, the figures of which are yet to be released by statistics agency Eurostat on Friday. The European Central Bank will publish its own projections in September.
