Inflation rose by 2.2% in April with risks ‘weighted towards' further price increases
Inflation rose by 2.2% in April with risks 'weighted towards' further price increases
Oisín Gaffey
14:13
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 2.2% in the past 12 months, with the cost of package holidays hit hardest. Image: Javier Ghersi
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
10 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Inflation in the eurozone remains stable at 2%
Inflation across the eurozone held steady at 2% in July despite an increase in the cost of food and alcohol, as well as services, new data from Eurostat shows. According to the data, last month food, alcohol, and tobacco prices across the EU increased by 3.3%, with the cost of services increasing by 3.2% compared to last year. Energy prices on the other hand declined by 2.4% compared to last year. Eurostat said each of these areas contribute in varying degrees to the headline inflation. Services is the largest component, accounting for around 45.7% of household spending in the euro area. It is followed by non-energy industrial goods with around 25.6%. Food, alcohol, tobacco as well as energy account for 19.3% and 9.4%, respectively. They can have significant impacts on the headline inflation as their prices tend to fluctuate significantly more than the other components. Eurostat measures inflation using the Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices, which is different from the Consumer Price Index used by the Central Statistics Office, but allows for a comparison in prices across the EU. The European Central Bank (ECB) is due to meet again next month in order to discuss inflation, the ongoing economic outlook and whether further interest rate cuts are justified. The current rate of inflation is right on the ECB's medium-term target making a rate cut unlikely. However, there are concerns that the ongoing trade issues with the US will cause the EU economy to slow down. Read More Mortgage interest reductions lag well behind ECB cuts, Central Bank data shows
RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
Canada's annual inflation rate eases to 1.7% in July
Canada's annual inflation rate eased to 1.7% in July from 1.9% in the previous month as lower year-on-year gasoline prices kept the consumer price index low, but core measures of inflation stayed sticky, data showed today. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the annual inflation rate at 1.8% and the monthly inflation rate at 0.3%. The CPI increased by 0.3% in July from 0.1% in June on a monthly basis, Statistics Canada said. Fuel prices dropped by 16.1% on a yearly basis in July, following a 13.4% decline in June. On a monthly basis the price of he fuel dropped as geopolitical tensions eased and crude oil producing nations increased output. The elimination of carbon levy on purchase of petrol has helped bring down the cost of the fuel on a yearly basis and is expected to maintain a downward pressure on the CPI basket for another eight months. This has helped the overall consumer price index to clock a rate below the mid-point of the Bank of Canada's 1% to 3% target range, even as there are signs of rising prices of food. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 2.5% in July, Statscan said. The main drivers of the increase in costs were rise in food prices and shelter costs, StatsCan said. Food prices, which contributes close to 17% to the overall CPI basket, rose by 3.3% in July from 2.9% in June. Shelter costs, the biggest component of the CPI basket, rose 3% in July from 2.9% in June, marking the first increase since February last year. This was driven by a smaller decline in cost of natural gas and rise in rents by 5.1%. Core measures of inflation, which are closely tracked by the Bank of Canada have remained resilient and hovered around the top of the bank's preferred range of CPI. Money markets are betting the odds of a rate cut on September 17 at 32% after the bank has stayed put at 2.75% for its last three rate decision meetings.
RTÉ News
7 days ago
- RTÉ News
US consumer prices increase moderately in July, as data quality concerns rising
US consumer prices increased moderately in July, though rising costs for goods because of import tariffs led to a measure of underlying inflation posting its largest gain in six months. The US consumer price index rose 0.2% last month after gaining 0.3% in June, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. In the 12 months to July, the CPI advanced 2.7% after rising 2.7% in June. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI rising 0.2% and increasing 2.8% year-on-year. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI rose 0.3%, the biggest gain since January, after climbing 0.2% in June. The so-called core CPI increased 3.1% year-on-year in July after advancing 2.9% in June. The Federal Reserve tracks different inflation measures for its 2% target. Prior to the CPI data, financial markets expected the US Fed would resume cutting interest rates in September after July's weak employment report and sharp downward revisions to the nonfarm payrolls counts for May and June. The Fed left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range last month for the fifth time in a row since December. The CPI report was published amid mounting concerns over the quality of inflation and employment reports following cuts in budget and staffing that have led to the suspension of data collection for portions of the CPI basket in some areas across the country. Those worries were amplified by President Donald Trump firing Erika McEntarfer, the head of the BLS, early this month after stall-speed job growth in July, reinforced by sharp downward revisions to the May and June nonfarm payrolls counts. The suspension of data collection followed years of what economists described as the underfunding of the BLS under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The situation has been exacerbated by the Trump White House's unprecedented campaign to reshape the government through deep spending cuts and mass layoffs of public workers. Citing the need to "align survey workload with resource levels," the BLS suspended CPI data collection completely in one city in Nebraska, Utah and New York. It has also suspended collection on 15% of the sample in the other 72 areas, on average. This affected both the commodity and services pricing survey as well as the housing survey, which the BLS said resulted in the number of collected prices and the number of collected rents used to calculate the CPI temporarily reduced. That has led to the BLS using imputations to fill in the missing information. The share of different cell imputation in the CPI data jumped to 35% in June from 30% in May. Different cell imputation, which the BLS uses when all prices are unavailable in the home cell, maintains the item category but expands geography. The home cell method, considered by economists as higher quality, uses the average price of the same item in the same location as the missing product's price. The use of different cell imputation has grown from a share of only 8% in June 2024. Economists said while these measures adopted by the BLS will not introduce bias in the CPI data, the volatility was a cause for concern.
