Euro zone inflation falls more than expected in May
2012-05-31 17:37:34
Euro zone annual inflation fell to 2.4 percent in May, down from 2.6 percent in April, the European Union's Eurostat statistics office said Thursday.
The May euro zone inflation flash estimate beat consensus estimates of 2.5 percent, according to a report by Capital Economics. The flash estimate combines historical data with partial information on price developments to create a projection for the economic union. Energy and food inflation are both expected to continue falling for the remainder of the year, and extra capacity is expected to push core inflation lower as well, according to the Capital Economics report.
"We expect inflation to fall well below the ECB's price stability ceiling next year," the Capital Economics report said.