Eurozone inflation falls further below central bank target

BRUSSELS – Official figures show inflation across the 19-country eurozone dipping modestly in December largely because of a moderation in the growth of energy price rises.

Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, said Friday that consumer prices across the eurozone were 1.4 per cent higher in the year to December, down from 1.5 per cent the month before. The decline was expected in financial markets and means that inflation remains well below the European Central Bank’s policy goal of just below 2 per cent.

Of perhaps more concern to policymakers at the ECB is the fact that the core rate, which strips out volatile items such as food and energy, remained even lower at 0.9 per cent. That suggests that the economic rebound in the eurozone has yet to materially affect wages.