Euro area annual inflation rises to minus 0.3 pct
Xinhua, March 2, 2015 Adjust font size:
Annual inflation of the euro zone is expected to be minus 0.3 percent in February of 2015, up from minus 0.6 percent in January, according to a flash estimate released Monday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Eurostat said the main factors behind the trends were cheaper energy prices, which were 7.9 percent lower than that of February 2014, and a 0.2 percent decline in prices of non-energy industrial goods.
Services is expected to have the highest annual rate increase in February, up by 1.1 percent, followed by food, alcohol and tobacco.
Eurostat said the unemployment rate in January fell to 11.2 percent from 11.3 percent in December, marking the lowest rate in the euro area since April 2012.
Analysts said a double dose of good news for the euro zone show that the risks of economic stagnation and deflation in the bloc are falling. Endit