German inflation rate remains well below ECB target in June

BERLIN (Reuters) - German annual inflation remained well below the European Central Bank's target level in June, preliminary data showed on Thursday, lending support to the bank's decision not to raise interest rates in the coming year.

(Reuters)

German consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries, rose by 1.3% year-on-year after increasing by the same amount in the previous month, the Federal Statistics Office said.

The June reading matched a Reuters forecast. German inflation has not been lower since February 2018.

The ECB targets inflation of close to but below 2% for the euro zone as a whole.

On the month, EU-harmonised prices rose by 0.1%, in line with market expectations.

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Paul Carrel)