Consumer prices eased to 1.4% year-on-year in May from 2% a month earlier, a flash estimate of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices from the Central Statistics Office estimates today.
The CSO said that core Irish HICP, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, slowed to 1.8%, from 2.5% in April.
Today’s figures show that energy prices are estimated to have fallen by 1.3% in the month and decreased by 2.6% over the 12 months to May.
But food prices are estimated to have increased by 1% on a monthly basis and by 4.1% on an annual basis, while transport costs are down 3% in the month and 2.4% lower in the 12 months to May.
Eurostat will publish flash estimates of inflation for the euro zone for May on June 3.
Meanwhile, Spanish inflation also dipped below the European Central Bank’s 2% target in May, preliminary data showed today, boosting the case for more interest rate cuts in the euro zone.
