OECD area annual inflation stable at 1.2% in August

Consumer prices in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area remained stable with 1.2% in August, the organization said on Monday.

Energy prices continued to fall in the month by 7.1%, but at a slower pace than in July (8.4%), while food price inflation picked up slightly to 3.9%, compared with 3.8% in July, it said.

On the other hand, OECD annual inflation excluding food and energy decreased slightly, to 1.6% in August, compared with 1.7% in July.

By contrast, inflation in the Euro area fell sharply to (minus) 0.2%, from 0.4% in July, the first negative rate since May 2016.

"In the Euro area, the sharp decrease in inflation in August was partly driven by the postponement of sales from July to August in several countries," it noted.

Meanwhile, annual inflation in the G20 area as a whole rose slightly to 2.5% compared with 2.4% in July.