The European economy evolution is still greatly marked by inflation and its impact on people’s lives. Rising living costs meant an impoverished population overall and implementing monetary policies to contain the economy and slow down price increases.
In this regard, April brought good news to the economic and financial sectors in the old continent. A moderate rise in inflation was recorded in the euro area during the fourth month of the year, reaching 7% year-on-year. This data means a tenth more than in the previous month but is the second lowest figure since Russia’s invasion on Ukraine over a year ago.
Moreover, underlying inflation has recorded improvements. This indicator -which excludes the impact of energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco prices- fell one tenth in relation to the month of March, so it placed itself at a 5.6% year-on-year. A drop that breaks clean of the rise that started nearly a year ago.
Spain, third European country with lowest inflation rates
News is still positive if the evolution of inflation in our borders is analysed. In April, Spain occupied the third position among countries with low inflation data alongside Cyprus at 3.8% year-on-year. Luxembourg and Belgium lead the ranking at 2.7% and 3.3% respectively.
On the opposite end of the list Latvia recorded the worst figure with a 15% year-on-year CPI during April, even though last quarter’s registered trend was reduced. A similar performance in Slovakia, Lithuania, and Estonia, where inflation levels are still high at 14%, 13.3%, and 13.2% respectively.
Germany stands out as one of the euro area’s main economies with a slight drop in prices to 7.6% in April, two tenths less than in March. France replicates the trend and also trims two tenths reaching 6.7% in April. Italy, however, records the opposite with a rebound effect from 8.1% in March to 8.8% in April.