German inflation continues to pick up in July

German inflation continued to increase in July for the third consecutive month, German federal statistics office Destatis said on Friday, confirming its preliminary calculations last month.

Consumer price index ( CPI) of Germany increased by 0.4 percent in July from the same month of previous year, up from a 0.3-percent growth in June and 0.1-percent growth in May, Destatis said.

The CPI-measured annual inflation hit its highest level since November last year.

According to Destatis, the development of energy prices, which declined by 0.7 percent, had a marked downward effect on the overall rise in prices.

"Excluding energy prices, the inflation rate in July 2016 would have been 1.3 percent," it said in a statement.

Measured with the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), which is calculated to compare with other European countries, German annual inflation in July also climbed to 0.4 percent from 0.2 percent in June.

The increase of inflation in Europe's largest economy somewhat relieved European Central Bank which was struggling to lift inflation in the euro zone to a level "below, but close to 2 percent".

In July, the euro zone inflation stood at 0.2 percent, up from 0.1 percent in June.

Source : XINHUA