German inflation bounces back to positive in Feb.

The annual inflation rate in Germany bounced back to above zero level in February after a temporary dip into negative territory in previous month, official data showed on Thursday.

Compared with the same month of previous year, German consumer price index (CPI) increased slightly by 0.1 percent in February, German national statistical office Destatis said, confirming its preliminary estimation.

In January, the CPI-measured inflation rate dipped to minus 0.4 percent, the first negative reading since September 2009.

Destatis said the low, though positive, inflation in February was mainly due to continuing downward price trends of energy products which as a whole fell by 7.3 percent year on year. Excluding the energy prices, German annual inflation rate would have been 1 percent last month.

When measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), European Central Bank's yardstick, however, the annual inflation in Germany remained negative in February with a rate of minus 0.1 percent, Destatis said.

The low inflation in Europe's biggest economy added more pressure to the ECB's efforts to maintain prices development at "blow, but close to" 2 percent in the euro zone.

According to the European Union's statistical office, annual inflation rate in the common currency area in February stood at minus 0.3 percent, though up from minus 0.6 percent in January.

The Frankfurt-based central bank started its fresh monetary stimulus on Monday in a bid to prevent the euro zone from falling into deflation spiral which was regarded by economists as dangerous because consumers would postpone their purchases in a belief that prices would drop further.

The ECB planned to inject 60 billion euros (about 63.8 billion U.S. dollars) into the market via purchasing government bonds and securities every month, and to keep the stimulus until end-September 2016. Endit