The annual inflation rate in the euro zone fell in December for the second consecutive month, to 9.2%, following 10.1% in November, thanks to the continued lull in energy prices, announced Eurostat on Friday.
The rise in consumer prices fell below the symbolic bar of 10% for the first time since October, when it had reached a record, at 10.6%, following a year and a half of uninterrupted rise.
The ebb is stronger than anticipated by analysts from Bloomberg and Factset, who had forecast inflation at 9.5% and 9.7% respectively in December.
The slowdown in price increases only concerns the energy sector (electricity, gas, oil, etc.).
This component remains the one with the highest annual rate of price increase in December, but it fell sharply to 25.7%, following 34.9% in November, according to the European statistics office.
Food prices (including alcohol and tobacco) continue to soar, with an annual increase of 13.8%, compared to 13.6% the previous month.
The rise in the prices of industrial goods also continues to worsen, at 6.4% (+0.3 point compared to November), like that of services, at 4.4% (+0.2 point).
Among the 19 countries in the euro zone – Croatia became the 20th country to join the single currency in January – the lowest inflation rate was recorded by Spain in December, at 5.6%, ahead of Luxembourg (6.2%) and France (6.7%).
Consumer price inflation reached 9.6% in Germany and 12.3% in Italy.
The highest rates were in the Baltic countries, Latvia (20.7%), Lithuania (20%) and Estonia (17.5%), according to harmonized Eurostat data.
