Europe inflation slips to 5.5% — but that won’t stop central bank rate hikes

By DAVID McHUGH
AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation in Europe slid again in June but fell too slowly to offer much relief to shoppers grumbling over price tags. It also won’t stop more interest rate hikes that will raise the cost of borrowing across the economy. The European Union statistics agency said Friday that annual rate of 5.5% is down from 6.1% in May in the 20 countries that use the euro currency. While that’s a big drop from the peak of 10.6% in October, persistently high prices in the U.S., Europe and the United Kingdom pushed some of the world’s top central bankers to make clear they are going to keep raising rates and leave them there until inflation drops to their 2% goal.