Eurozone consumer prices were slightly higher on the year in June as preliminary data released by the EU’s statistics agency showed that consumer prices were 0.1% higher than in June 2015, offsetting a 0.1% fall in May, Yahoo reported. The latest figures underline the difficulty of boosting inflation at a time of weak demand growth not just in the eurozone but around the world. Prices first fell below their year-earlier levels in December 2014 and the eurozone has drifted in and out of deflation ever since. Core inflation that excludes energy, food and tobacco rose to 0.9% in June from 0.8% in May. This was the fastest rate since March. In the meantime, German unemployment continued to fall in June, indicating that economic growth remained strong before Britons unexpectedly voted to exit the European Union. The number of people out of work in Europe’s largest economy fell by a seasonally adjusted 6,000 to 2.69 million, data from the Federal Labor Agency showed last week.
