Inflation slowed by 0.1 per cent in May compared with April as energy prices fell, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.The data also shows prices were up by 3.5 per cent on the same month last year.The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Ireland shows there was inflation of 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to April.Still, that outpace the 3 per cent jump in the HICP for the wider euro zone over the same period.Looking at the components of the flash HICP for Ireland in May, energy prices decreased by 4.3 per cent in the month. They are still up 11.9 per cent over the year.Food prices increased by 0.1 per cent in the month and went up by 1.4 per cent in the year.Excluding energy and unprocessed food, the HICP is estimated to have gone up by 2.7 per cent since May last year.Eurostat will publish flash estimates of inflation from the EU HICP for the euro zone for May on Monday.The International Monetary Fund this week warned the Government that budget measures to support households in the aftermath of the inflation shock caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran should be temporary and targeted at the most vulnerable.In its latest report on the Irish economy, published on Monday, the Washington-based agency said “broad-based personal income-tax reliefs and exemptions” could be reduced to help buttress the Irish tax base, which remains heavily reliant on volatile corporation tax receipts from a handful of multinational companies.Broadening the tax base could also mean “enhancing” the take from the local property tax and cutting some of the “many reduced rates” of VAT in Ireland, IMF assistant director Yan Sun told reporters.Sun, who leads the fund’s Irish mission, said “there’s a large VAT gap” in the Republic, similar to the gap that exists in the personal income tax regime, in which close to a third of the population pays no income tax.