Eurozone maintains inflation of -0.3% in October

The year-on-year inflation rate in the euro zone stood at -0.3% in October, the same figure as that registered in September, as a result of the rebound in fresh food and industrial goods, which offset the slight decrease in energy, according to preliminary data published by Eurostat, the community statistical office.

In the tenth month of the year, energy prices registered a year-on-year fall of 8.4%, compared to the 8.2% decrease in September. On the other hand, non-energy industrial goods posted a deflation of one tenth, compared to -0.3% in the previous month.

Likewise, the statistical office has reported that services became more expensive by 0.4%, one tenth less, while processed food, alcohol and tobacco maintained their increase at 1.4% and fresh foods were they revalued 4.3%, compared to the rise of 3.1% in the previous month.

Thus, by excluding the effect of energy, the year-on-year inflation rate in the euro zone stood at 0.6%, the same figure as in September, while leaving food out of the calculation, the alcohol and tobacco, the core inflation rate for the group of countries that have adopted the euro as their common currency stood at 0.2%, the same as a month earlier.

Among the countries for which data were available, the largest price increases were in Slovakia (+1.7%), the Netherlands (+1.1%) and Malta (+0.6%), while the largest decreases they were observed in Greece (-2%), Ireland (-1.8%) and Estonia (-1.7%).

In the case of Spain, prices fell 1% in October, accelerating the 0.6% decline that had been registered in August and September, which widens the price differential with respect to the average to 1.3 percentage points of the euro zone.

Source: dpa