Eurozone inflation revised lower as price pressures ease

Eurozone inflation slowed more than initially expected in February with price pressures easing across France, Germany and Ireland.

The harmonised annual rate of consumer price inflation across the single-currency region slowed to 2.3% in February, down from a six-month high of 2.5% in January.

This was below the preliminary estimate of 2.4% released two weeks ago and the lowest level since November.

Energy prices rose by just 0.2% year-on-year, following a 1.9% annual jump in January, while services inflation eased to 3.7% from 3.9%. The increase in food, alcohol and tobacco prices, however, rose to 2.7% from 2.3%.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile items like energy, good, alcohol and tobacco, slowed to 2.6% from 2.7%.

The lowest annual rates of headline inflation were seen in France, where prices rose by just 0.9% year-on-year in February after growing 1.8% the previous month, and Ireland, where inflation slowed to 1.4% from 1.7%. Economic powerhouse Germany saw annual inflation fell to 2.6% from 2.8%.

Among other large eurozone nations, inflation rates in Spain and Italy held steady at 2.9% and 1.7% respectively.