The annual inflation in the Eurozone has continued to rise in January 2025, with a forecast of 2.5 percent, following 2.4 percent in December, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat, which released the data on Monday. Compared to the previous month, prices decreased by 0.3 percent.
The so-called “core inflation” or the price increase excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, remained at 2.7 percent in January, the same as in the previous month. This “core rate” is closely watched by the European Central Bank (ECB) in relation to its target of a 2 percent inflation rate.
Regarding the main components of inflation in the Eurozone, it is expected that “services” in January will show the highest annual rate (3.9 percent, down from 4.0 percent in December), followed by “food, alcohol and tobacco” (2.3 percent, down from 2.6 percent in December), “energy” (1.8 percent, up from 0.1 percent in December) and “industrial goods excluding energy” (0.5 percent, unchanged from December).
Eurostat reports the highest inflation rate in Croatia, at 5.0 percent, followed by Belgium at 4.4 percent. In contrast, the agency reports an inflation rate of 1.5 percent in Ireland. For Germany, Eurostat calculates the inflation rate at 2.8 percent, using a different method than the Federal Statistical Office, which reported a rate of 2.3 percent on Friday.