According to a flash estimate from Eurostat, in May 2020, a month still marked with COVID-19 containment measures, euro area annual inflation is expected to be 0.1%, down from 0.3% in April. Meanwhile, the core figures steadied at +0.9% in the reported month when compared to +0.8% expectations and +0.9% previous.

Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in May (3.3%, compared with 3.6% in April), followed by services (1.3%, compared with 1.2% in April), non-energy industrial goods (0.2%, compared with 0.3% in April) and energy (-12.0%, compared with -9.7% in April).