Euro Area inflation rate confirmed at 2.9% in December

The annual inflation rate in the Euro Area was confirmed at 2.9% in December, final data by Eurostat showed on Wednesday.

The latter was an uptick from a more than two-year low of 2.4% in November.

It has also been the first acceleration in inflation since April 2023, mostly due to energy-related base effects.

In December, energy prices went down 6.7% year-on-year compared with an 11.5% slump in November, while services inflation remained stable at 4%.

Meanwhile, price increases moderated for both food, alcohol & tobacco (up 6.1% YoY versus 6.9% YoY in November) and non-energy industrial goods (up 2.5% YoY versus 2.9% YoY in November).

Annual core CPI inflation, which excludes volatile categories such as food and energy, was also confirmed at 3.4% in December. It has been the lowest core inflation rate since March 2022.

In month-over-month terms, consumer prices in the Euro Area edged up 0.2% in December, following a 0.6% decrease in the previous month.