Eurozone consumer prices fall more than expected by 0.6% in January

Eurozone consumer prices fell more than forecast in January as a slump in oil continued to drag., data showed on Friday.

The European Union's statistics agency said consumer prices fell 0.6% year-on-year, following a 0.2% decline December. Analysts had pencilled in a 0.5% drop.

It marked the largest decrease since July 2009 and comes after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a €60bn a month quantitative easing package to address the risk of deflation. The ECB is trying to move inflation towards its target of just below 2%.

"January’s Eurozone consumer prices figures have brought further evidence that deflationary pressures in the currency union go well beyond the effect of falling energy prices," said Capital Economics chief European economist Jonathan Loynes.