Eurozone Inflation Eases To 1.7%

(RTTNews) - Eurozone inflation softened in January, flash estimate from Eurostat showed on Wednesday.

The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 1.7 percent on a yearly basis in January, following December's 2.0 percent increase. The rate came in line with expectations. Excluding volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, core inflation softened to 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent a month ago.

Data showed that services cost registered its biggest annual increase in January, up 3.2 percent. This was followed by a 2.7 percent rise in food, alcohol and tobacco prices.

Non-energy industrial goods prices moved up 0.4 percent and energy prices declined 4.1 percent.

Month-on-month, the HICP was down 0.5 percent in January.