Inflation fell to an annual rate of 2,7 percent in May for the 17 countries that share the euro, surprising markets and removing some of the pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to continue raising interest rates.
Inflation in the eurozone fell from April's 2,8 percent, the EU statistics office, Eurostat, announced today. The decline is unexpected for the markets that predicted a rate of 2,8 percent or even 2,9 percent.
The ECB raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a point to 1,25 percent in April, and is weighing how quickly to continue hikes to prevent inflation from rising as a result of rising wages.
At the same time, Eurostat says that unemployment in the eurozone remained unchanged at 9,9 percent in April. The smallest, 4,2 percent, is in Austria and the Netherlands, and the largest in Spain - 20,7 percent.
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