Investing.com - Germany’s annual inflation accelerated in June according to preliminary data released on Thursday, as the volatility seen in the headline data since the start of the year continued.
Germany’s annual inflation rate rose to 1.6% in June from a final reading of 1.5% in May, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a preliminary estimate.
Economists had forecast an inflation rate of 1.4% for June.
EU-harmonised annual inflation (HICP) rose to 1.5% in June from 1.4% in May.
Regional data released earlier on Thursday showed that annual inflation rose to 1.9% in the German state of Hesse, up from 1.7% in May.
Consumer prices ticked higher in Saxony, Brandenburg and Baden-Wuerttemberg and remained stable in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.
The data comes as pressure from Germany and other countries has been mounting on the European Central Bank to start to unwind its quantitative easing program.
Inflation in the euro area’s largest economy rose above the ECB’s target of “below but close to” 2% in February. It fell back in March, but then rose again to hit the target in April.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1411 from around 1.1405 ahead of the release of the data.