Eurozone inflation confirmed at 1.9% in October
2010-11-16 16:23:34
Annual inflation in the eurozone was confirmed at 1.9 percent in October, the European Union (EU)'s statistics office Eurostat said Tuesday.
The figure was in line with the initial estimate made at the end of October and was up from 1.8 percent in September, inching to the 2 percent ceiling preferred by the European Central Bank (ECB) to maintain price stability.
The rise in inflation was mainly due to energy costs and higher food prices as in the previous months. In October, costs for transport registered the highest annual increase rate of 4.3 percent, while food prices were up 1.2 percent.
For the 27-nation EU, annual inflation was 2.3 percent in October, up from 2.2 percent in September. Compared with September, annual inflation rose in 15 member states, remained stable in six and fell in five.
The lowest annual rate was observed in Ireland, where consumer prices dropped by 0.8 percent, while the highest was in Romania, with an annual inflation of 7.9 percent.
The Frankfurt-based ECB is widely expected to hold its key rate at its record low level of 1 percent in the near term to support the fragile economic recovery.