Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), speaks during an ECB press conference in July.
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Inflation in the euro zone came in higher than analysts had expected for the month of August, although coming in unchanged from the previous month and complicating the role of the region’s central bank.
Headline inflation was at 5.3% for August, according to preliminary data by the European statistics office Thursday. That’s above the 5.1% expected, according to a poll by Dow Jones, but unchanged from July.
Food prices continued to be the biggest driver for headline inflation, however they came down by 1 percentage point from the previous month.
Core inflation, which strips off volatile items and is a key metric for the European Central Bank, came down over the same period by 0.2 percentage points and it is now at the same level as headline inflation — at 5.3%.
European Central Bank Member Robert Holzmann said the data shows inflation is still persistent, according to Reuters. He, one of the more hawkish members of the ECB, added that the latest figures pose a “conundrum” for the central bank.
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