NEW YORK: Euro-area inflation slowed to match a five-year low, prodding the European Central Bank toward expanding its unprecedented stimulus program.
Consumer prices rose 0.3 percent from a year earlier, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said. Unemployment (UMRTEMU) held at 11.5 percent in October, Euro stat said in a separate report.
Continued low inflation is keeping pressure on the ECB’s Governing Council to add to its package of measures aimed at reviving the economy. President Mario Draghi, who will lead a meeting of policy makers on Dec. 4, says he wants to raise inflation “as fast as possible” and repeated yesterday that policy makers are united in their commitment to do more if needed.
“The longer inflation remains this low, the easier it will be for the idea that inflation expectations are getting unanchored to get into people’s heads,” said Martin Lueck, an economist at UBS Group AG in Frankfurt. “This would push the ECB to act.”
The euro stayed lower after the announcement, trading at $1.2450 at 11:18 a.m. in Frankfurt.
Part of the slowdown in inflation is related to a drop in prices for oil and other commodities. Crude oil has fallen more than 30 percent in the past three months.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as energy, food tobacco and alcohol, stayed at 0.7 percent in November.
shanghai shares start week with losses 25 june 2018
Hong Kong, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jun, 2018 ) :Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks fell on...
