European inflation slips back amid signs of slowing economies
September 15th, 2010 - 5:40 pm ICT by IANSBerlin, Sep 15 (DPA) Price pressures in the 16-member eurozone eased in August, data released Wednesday showed, as the euro gained ground and energy costs slipped back.
The European Union’s (EU) statistics office Eurostat confirmed that annual inflation in the currency bloc slipped from 1.7 percent in July to 1.6 percent last month.
This left consumer prices below the European Central Bank’s two-percent inflation target. The August data was in line with forecasts.
Apart from the prospects of slowing economic growth across Europe, wages are also unlikely to fuel price pressures. Second-quarter employment stagnated in the eurozone, Eurostat said in a separate report.
Annual employment growth rate in both the eurozone and the broader 27-member EU slumped by 0.6 percent during the three months to the end of June, the statistics office said.
The subdued inflation data gives the ECB room to move on interest rates with most economists expecting eurozone borrowing costs to remain on hold possibly until the end of the next year.
The ECB’s benchmark refinancing rate has been on hold at a record low of one percent since May last year.
A year ago when the eurozone economy was struggling to shake off recession, prices were in negative territory.
Annual inflation in the EU came in at 2 per cent in August, down from 2.1 percent in July. A year earlier the rate was 0.6 percent.
- Eurozone's retail sales up - Mar 06, 2012
- Eurozone inflation rate drops slightly to 2.5 percent - Jul 29, 2011
- Europe slides further into deflation in July - Jul 31, 2009
- European inflation rises as recovery gains ground - Jan 05, 2010
- Euro area inflation jumps to 2.7 percent in March - Apr 15, 2011
- European industrial production plunges as inflation drops - Apr 16, 2009
- China surpasses US as EU's top trade partner - Oct 16, 2011
- Europe's central bank unlikely to change interest rates - Aug 06, 2009
- Italy's unemployment rate drops - Aug 31, 2010
- Europe slumps into deflation in June - Jun 30, 2009
- EU's retail trade rate decreases by .2 percent - Nov 05, 2010
- Japan's consumer prices drop a bit in December - Jan 28, 2012
- Consumer price inflation rises to 9.47 percent - Apr 18, 2012
- EU's jobless rate jumps to 10.1 percent, consumer prices rises to 1.9 percent - Oct 29, 2010
- Wall Street mixed amid European concern (Lead) - Jan 12, 2012
Tags: bloc, ecb, economic growth, economists, employment growth rate, energy costs, european inflation, european union, eurostat, eurozone, inflation data, inflation target, negative territory, price pressures, quarter employment, recession, refinancing, second quarter, statistics office, wages