Eurozone Consumer Prices Down 0.1 Percent In Oct

PAN PYLAS

LONDON (AP) — Consumer prices in the 16 countries that use the euro fell by 0.1 percent in the year to October, official figures confirmed Monday.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, kept the rate unchanged from its preliminary estimate, in line with market expectations.

October's decline was the fifth in a row. In the year to September, prices fell by 0.3 percent.

Though falling prices may be good for hard-pressed consumers, it is a sign of just how shaky demand remains.

Of the 16 countries using the euro, Ireland saw prices fall the most, by 2.8 percent. Greece saw the biggest price rises, at 1.2 percent.

Inflation is expected to turn positive in the months ahead as last year's sharp falls in energy prices fall out of the annual comparison and growth returns — figures last Friday confirmed that the eurozone returned to growth in the third quarter of 2009, albeit at a fairly anemic level of 0.4 percent.