A big drop in inflation in Greece to 2.3% in May from 3.2% in April, Eurostat’s preliminary data on the harmonized index show.

Inflation in Greece was the sixth lowest in the eurozone in May.

In the eurozone, according to the same data, inflation moved upwards from 2.4% to 2.6%.

Looking at the main components of inflation in the euro area, services are expected to have the highest annual rate in May (4.1%, up from 3.7% in April), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (2, 6%, versus 2.8% in April ), non-energy industrial goods (0.8%, versus 0.9% in April) and energy (0.3%, versus -0.6% in April).

On a monthly basis, the May-April comparison showed that prices in the eurozone rose at a rate of 0.2%, slowing from the 0.6% increase in the previous two-month comparison.

The course in Greece was diametrically opposite, however, which saw the index fall sharply to 2.3% annually from 3.2% last month.

It was even characteristic that Greece was the only country that showed a drop on a monthly basis, as the May – April comparison showed that the index moved to -0.3%.

In May, the highest level of inflation in the eurozone was recorded by Belgium (4.9%), Croatia (4.3%) and Portugal (3.9%). The lowest inflation levels in the eurozone are recorded in Latvia (0.2%), Finland (0.5%), Italy and Lithuania (both 0.8%).