AA / Brussels / Mohammad Farid Mahmoud Abdullah
The European Statistics Office (Eurostat) said on Wednesday that consumer price inflation in the euro zone (which brings together 19 countries) had slowed in November, compared to figures recorded in previous months.
According to preliminary data from Eurostat, annual inflation fell to 10% in November, from 10.6% last October, in the first drop since June 2021.
This decline is explained by the decline in energy prices, and in particular natural gas, oil and derivative products, in addition to the slowdown in the growth of food prices.
Consumer prices in the euro zone, however, remained in double digits, thus remaining high compared to the objectives of the European Central Bank, which was counting on a rate of only 3%, in the medium term.
Food, alcohol and tobacco price inflation was 13.6% in November over a 12-month period, while price inflation for all kinds of energy was 34.9%.
Energy prices have risen in the current year, amid the fallout from the Russian-Ukrainian war and reduced Russian natural gas supplies to European Union countries.
Inflation has also impacted other economies, but it has taken a particularly heavy toll in Europe, due to the old continent’s dependence on Russian natural gas, supplies of which had been drastically reduced by Russian gas company Gazprom.
* Translated from Arabic by Mounir Bennour.
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