More expensive services, food drive eurozone inflation in October

MORE expensive services and food were the main drivers of consumer price growth in the eurozone in October, data showed on Friday (Nov 17), as the EU’s statistics office confirmed year-on-year inflation slowed sharply.

Eurostat said consumer inflation in the 20 countries using the euro decelerated to 2.9 per cent year-on-year in October from 4.3 per cent in September, after prices rose 0.1 per cent month-on-month.

Price rises in the services sectors, the biggest part of the eurozone economy, added 1.97 percentage points to the final year-on-year number and more expensive food, alcohol and tobacco added another 1.48 percentage points.

A sharp fall in energy prices subtracted 1.45 points from the final number while non-energy industrial goods added another 0.9 percentage points.

The European Central Bank wants to keep inflation at 2.0 per cent over the medium term and has raised interest rates to record highs to slow down price growth, at the same time slowing euro zone economic growth. REUTERS