Annual inflation Eurozone fell to 9.2% in December

The European Union’s statistics office (Eurostat) said on Wednesday that the rate of consumer price inflation slowed in the single European currency area in December, as expected, thanks to the continued decline in energy prices after reaching record levels earlier.

Eurostat added that prices in the twenty countries that share the eurozone fell by 0.4% on a monthly basis, while they rose by 9.2% on an annual basis.

Energy prices fell 6.6% on a monthly basis and recorded an increase of 25.5% on an annual basis, below the 34.9% on an annual basis in the previous month.

As a result, energy prices are no longer the main cause of inflation on an annual basis, as they increased by only 2.79 percentage points, while food prices increased by 2.88 percentage points.

Non-energy industrial goods prices rose 1.70 percentage points, while services prices continued at 1.83 points.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, prices rose 0.7% on a monthly basis, while achieving an annual increase of 6.9%.

Another measure that excludes tobacco and alcohol prices showed that inflation rose 0.6% on a monthly basis, compared to an increase of 5.2% on an annual basis.