Eurozone prices down 0.6% in January

Brussels

EUROZONE consumer prices fell at a record-equalling pace in January, more steeply than expected and supporting the backers of the European Central Bank's money-printing plan to combat sustained deflation.

The European statistics office said in a first estimate on Friday that prices in the 19 countries using the single currency in January were 0.6 per cent lower than a year earlier, after a 0.2 per cent decline in December.