Data from the European Union’s statistics office (Eurostat) revealed today, Thursday, that inflation in the euro zone fell to a rate less than expected last month, while growth in basic prices increased, which supports the European Central Bank’s intention to continue raising interest rates at a rapid pace.
Consumer price inflation in the 20 euro countries fell to 8.5% in February from 8.6% in the previous month as a significant decline in energy costs offset higher prices for almost all other goods and services, but it was still higher than the 8.2% rate. , which was expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is an important indicator closely watched by the ECB, rose to 5.6% from 5.3%, beating expectations for it to remain unchanged.
Price growth in the services sector, the largest component of core inflation, increased to 4.8%, from 4.4%.
