BRUSSELS
The euro area is set to suffer its second month of deflation, with the annual inflation rate expected to hit minus 0.6 percent for January, according to the European Union’s statistical office.
Eurostat said in a report published on Friday that the heavy fall in global energy prices had caused the annual inflation rate to drop, according to Eurostat, adding that prices were also expected to fall for food and non-energy industrial goods.
January will be the second month in a row that the area has suffered deflation following a negative inflation rate of -0.2 percent December.
Inflation was 0.3 percent in November.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the euro area was 11.4 percent in December, down from 11.5 percent in November 2014, according to Eurostat.
EU member states with the lowest unemployment rates in December 2014 were Germany (4.8 percent) and Austria (4.9 percent), with the highest being Greece (25.8 percent in October 2014) and Spain (23.7 percent).
The euro area includes countries in the EU which have adopted the euro as their currency, including: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
