BERLIN: German inflation likely picked up in May as rising energy costs pushed up consumer prices in Europe's largest economy but price rises remain well below the euro zone's official inflation target, data from several federal states suggested on Monday.
In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the most populous state and a bellwether for the national rate, consumer prices rose by 0.7 percent year-on-year after increasing by 0.3 percent in April. In three other states, the annual inflation rate also accelerated.
Figures from the states are used to calculate Germany's national inflation rate which is expected to be published at 1200 GMT.
While the states do not harmonise their inflation data to compare with other European countries (HICP), the figures nonetheless showed a broad upward trend.
"May's rise in German inflation mainly reflects an anticipated increase in energy inflation, underlying price pressures remain very weak," said Jennifer McKeown, senior European economist at Capital Economics.
She said the regional data pointed to a rise in overall HICP inflation of about 0.6 percent.
A Reuters poll conducted before the state data was published showed economists also expect yearly consumer prices to climb by 0.6 percent on a harmonised basis after a 0.3 percent rise last month.
That would still be a long way off the ECB's inflation target for the euro zone as a whole of just under 2 percent.
Preliminary euro zone data, due out on Tuesday, is expected to show annual consumer prices in the single currency bloc rose by 0.2 in May after a flat reading in April.
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