Eurozone inflation down to 1.4 pct in December

BRUSSELS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The inflation in eurozone fell to 1.4 percent in December from 1.5 percent in the previous month, flash estimate from Eurostat showed on Friday.

The inflation continues to stay well below the European Central Bank's (ECB) target of "below, but close to 2 percent".

Looking at the main components of eurozone inflation, energy price inflation slowed to 3 percent from 4.7 percent compared with November. Food, alcohol and tobacco prices increased 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent in November.

The slight deceleration in headline inflation eased the pressure on the ECB to unwind Quantitative Easing (QE).

The ECB has said it would continue its easy monetary policy to raise inflation to its target. However, Germany and other richer eurozone countries have voiced worries about the easy policy when the eurozone economic growth became strong.

Investors will look closely on ECB's next policy meeting later this month. Enditem