Greek EU-harmonized inflation stays negative in May
Greece’s annual EU-harmonised inflation stayed negative in May at -0.7% year-on-year from -0.9% in April, statistics service ELSTAT data showed on Wednesday.
The data also showed headline consumer price inflation at -1.1% from -1.4% in the previous month.
Prices were led lower by housing and transport costs, telecommunications and consumer durables, the data showed.
Greece went through a deflation phase during its multi-year debt crisis as wage and pension cuts and a multi-year recession took a heavy toll on household incomes.
Deflation hit its highest level in Nov. 2013 when consumer prices registered a 2.9% year-on-year decline. The economy emerged from deflation in June 2016.
Consumer prices in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to a four-year low of 0.1% in May from 0.3% in April, well short of the ECB’s target of almost 2%, as energy prices dropped by 12% on a global recession.
[Reuters]
