Irish inflation estimated at 9.6% in July giving first hopes that price pressures are peaking

Irish economists have predicted since March that consumer price inflation would peak at around 10% this summer, however, they still see inflation running at elevated levels next year. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Ireland's inflation rate was 9.6% in July, unchanged from the previous month, providing a glimmer of hope that the acceleration of price pressures is nearing a peak.

The figures come from Eurostat and are based on its harmonised measure of inflation which makes it easier to compare inflation rates right across the European Union.

The harmonised rates have in the past been slightly higher than the consumer prices measure, which in Ireland's case was running at 9.1% in June 2022.

Irish economists have predicted since March that consumer price inflation would peak at around 10% this summer, however, they still see inflation running at elevated levels next year.

Ireland's 9.6% rate is, however, still higher than the average for the eurozone as a whole which is running at 8.9%, according to the European statistics office.

The latest figures show that Estonia, at 22.7%, has the highest inflation rate in July closely followed by Latvia. The Baltic states are most exposed to the curtailment of Russian gas and fuel.

Germany's inflation rate in the month is running at 8.5%, up slightly from the previous month and France's rate was running at 6.8%. 

The lowest rate in the EU was Malta with a rate of 6.5%, the figures show.

Eurostat said that the drivers of inflation across the eurozone were again energy costs, food, industrial goods, and services, in that order.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said the inflation estimate shows that in Ireland, energy fell by 1.6% in July and up by 50.4% on an annual basis.