Eurozone confirms deflation though core CPI increases

Eurozone inflation remained in negative territory on an annual basis in February but rose more than expected compared to the previous month, while core consumer prices also rose slowly.

On a month-on-month basis, the consumer price index was up 0.2%, versus a consensus estimate of a 0.1% rise and a big reversal from the 1.4% decline in January.

On an annual basis, data from the Eurostat statistics office showed CPI remained in negative territory, at -0.2%, as forecast.

There was also a year-on-year rise in core consumer prices, which strip out volatile items like fuel and food prices, to 0.8%, beating forecasts of 0.7%.

Across the wider European Union annual inflation was also -0.2% in February 2016, down from 0.3% in January.

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