-Ulrike Kastens, Sal. Oppenheim
The Consumer Price Index in the Euro zone's largest economy, Germany, continued to rise in July, the third consecutive month of growth, the Federal Statistics Office revealed on Thursday, but remained comfortably below the target level. The flash estimate from Destatis showed that consumer prices in Europe's economic powerhouse increased 0.3% month-over-month on a non-seasonally adjusted basis in July, after rising 0.1% in the previous month, while market analysts penciled in an acceleration to 0.2% in the seventh month of the year. On annual basis, the CPI climbed 0.4% in the same month, up from last month's final reading of 0.3%.
In the meantime, the German Unemployment Change report published by the German Statistics Office on Thursday revealed that the unemployment rate in the country remained at 6.1% in July, whereas the number of unemployed people in the Euro zone's number one economy dropped by 7,000 in the reported month, compared to a fall of 6,000 registered in the preceding month, while economic desks anticipated a decline of 3,000 in July. The jobless rate in Germany stayed at the lowest level in the last 20 years. The European Central Bank aims to maintain inflation rates of below, but close to, 2% over the medium term.
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