BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Germany's headline consumer price inflation accelerated to a three-month high in July, defying expectations for a slowing, while the EU measure of price growth eased more-than-expected to a near three-year low, preliminary data from Destatis showed on Tuesday.
The flash consumer price index climbed 1.7 percent year-on-year following a 1.6 percent increase in June. Economists had forecast an inflation rate of 1.5 percent.
Inflation was the highest since April, when it was 2 percent.
Energy inflation eased to 2.4 percent from 2.5 percent, while food price growth jumped to 2.1 percent from 1.2 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, the CPI rose 0.5 percent in July, which was faster than the 0.3 percent increase economists had predicted.
Meanwhile, inflation based on the harmonized index of consumer prices, which is meat for EU comparison, slowed to 1.1 percent from 1.5 percent in June. Economists had forecast 1.3 percent price growth.
The latest HICP inflation rate was the weakest since November 2016, when it was 0.8 percent.
Compared to the previous month, the HICP rose 0.4 percent in July, which was a tad faster than the 0.3 percent economists had expected.
The statistical office is set to release the final figures for July inflation on August 13.
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