Eurozone Inflation Rises As Estimated To 2.5%

(RTTNews) - Eurozone inflation rose slightly in January, as initially estimated, driven by higher energy prices, final data from Eurostat showed on Monday. Inflation edged up to 2.5 percent in January from 2.4 percent in December. The 2.5 percent matched the estimate published on February 3.

Core inflation that strips out prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, held steady at 2.7 percent in January. The rate came in line with the flash estimate.

The acceleration in overall inflation was driven by the jump in energy prices to 1.9 percent from a marginal 0.1 percent rise in December.

The increase in food, alcohol and tobacco prices softened to 2.3 percent from 2.6 percent. Non-energy industrial goods prices registered a stable growth of 0.5 percent and services inflation slowed to 3.9 percent from 4.0 percent a month ago.

On a monthly basis, the harmonized index of consumer prices dropped 0.3 percent in January.

Data showed that EU inflation increased to 2.8 percent in January from 2.7 percent in December. Month-on-month, the HICP remained flat.