Eurozone inflation slowed down to 0.7% in October
In October the index was one tenth below September, to reach 0.7%
The inflation rate in the euro zone stood at 0.7% in October, one tenth below the previous month’s reading and the lowest price increase in the group of countries that share the euro since November 2016, according to Eurostat has informed, which has thus maintained the preliminary estimate of the data.
In the whole of the European Union (EU), the prices registered an annual increase of 1.1% in the tenth month of the year, but also one tenth below the September increase which represents its lowest rise since December 2016.
The weakening of inflation in the euro zone during the month of October reflects the 3.1% drop in energy prices, compared to the 1.8% decrease of the previous month, while fresh food prices increased by 0,7%, the same figure as in September.
Excluding the impact of energy prices, the year-on-year inflation rate in the euro zone stood at 1.2%, one tenth above the September reading, while also excluding fresh food, prices rose 1.2%, the same figure as the previous month. Without taking into account energy, fresh food, alcohol and tobacco, inflation in the euro zone stood at 1.1%, compared to 1% in September.
Among the EU countries whose data wwas available, the weakest price evolution was observed in Cyprus, where they fell 0.5%, while in Greece they fell 0.3% and in Portugal they fell 0.1%. On the other hand, inflation stood at 0.2% in Spain, Italy and Belgium.
On the contrary, the highest inflationary pressures were registered in Romania (+ 3.2%), Hungary (+ 3%) and Slovakia (+ 2.9%). In the case of Spain, the harmonized inflation rate stood at 0.2% in October, the same figure as the previous month and the lowest increase since September 2016.
Source: dpa
