Eurozone inflation rate turns negative in Sept as ECB debates QE

Frankfurt

THE euro area's inflation rate unexpectedly turned negative in September for the first time in six months, adding pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to bolster stimulus.

Consumer prices in the 19-nation currency bloc fell 0.1 per cent from a year earlier, according to a preliminary report published by the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg on Wednesday.

Economists predicted an inflation rate of zero, according to the median estimate of 38 analysts in a Bloomberg su…