Eurozone inflation holds steady at 0.2 per cent in August
The Eurozone’s annual inflation rate held steady at 0.2 per cent in August, show figures released by statistics agency Eurostat today.
Although unchanged month-on-month, inflation in the 19-country euro area remains low, and is down from 0.4 per cent a year ago.
The biggest downward pressure comes from the energy sector, where prices have slumped 7.1 per cent lower year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the largest price increases came from rising food prices, up 1.2 per cent from 0.9 per cent in July, and services, also growing by 1.2 per cent.
Inflation remains well below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) target, of just under two per cent, and today’s figures follow on the ECB’s chief economist recently admitting that the risk of missing the inflation target has gone up after the market turmoil of recent weeks.
The central bank is meeting on Thursday to discuss adjustments to inflation forecasts.