Deflation hits eurozone as prices fall 0.2% in December

The tip into deflation is expected to make further action to stimulate the zone's economy by the European Central Bank more likely. The bank's inflation target is below but close to 2%. The fall in prices was driven mainly by lower energy costs following the recent drop in the price of oil.

Energy prices in December were 6.3% lower than a year earlier. If energy prices are excluded, December's inflation rate for the eurozone was 0.6%, the same as in November.

Prices for food, alcohol and tobacco were estimated to be unchanged from a year earlier, after rising 0.5% in November. Prices for services, which had held steady in November, are estimated to have risen 1.2% compared with December 2013.

It is the first time the eurozone has experienced deflation since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009.

(Source: BBC)

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