According to German conventions, the country’s annual inflation rate was unchanged at 0.4% in August.
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Its rate-setting Governing Council meets next week, although most investor do not expect further policy measures until the fourth quarter.
Inflation was stable compared with July at 0.2%, which was below economists’ expectations of 0.3%, as prices of food, industrial goods and services rose less than the previous month. Economists had forecast 0.5 percent inflation. Germany’s statistics agency Wednesday reported that retail sales were up 1.7% in July from June, the largest increase since January 2014.
Meanwhile, inflation is “far weaker elsewhere” in the eurozone, Allen noted, pointing especially at Spain, which on Tuesday released data showing headline inflation remains negative.
The result was just below the 0.5 percent predicted by analysts surveyed by Factset, and remains far off the European Central Bank target of just under 2.0 percent.
President Mario Draghi announced no change to the ECB’s programme of government and corporate bond buying, cheap loans to banks and negative interest rates following the early July gathering.
A broad breakdown of the figures showed that the annual pace of food price growth slowed to 0.9% from 1.1% in July, with services prices increasing by 1.3%, down from 1.4% in July.
The flash estimate of eurozone inflation for August will offer some clues on the challenges facing the region’s central bankers as they return from their summer break. Energy prices declined by 5.9% on the year, smaller than the 7% decrease in July, according to the breakdown, which is not harmonized to reflect European Union norms.
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Final data based on all 16 states will be published on September 13.
