AA / Brussels
The European statistics office, Eurostat, said in flash estimates released on Wednesday that annual inflation in the euro zone had slowed to 8.5% in January.
Eurostat said in a statement that consumer price inflation in the countries of the region (which includes 20 countries), recorded in January, had fallen from 9.2% in December.
The energy price index slowed in January to 17.2% year-on-year from 25.5% in December, followed by food, alcohol and tobacco at 14.1%, against 13.8% in December.
The euro area includes the following countries: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The euro zone has been affected by the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the prices of food, energy derivatives and fuels of all kinds have increased since March 2022, while the European Central Bank tries to curb inflation in increasing interest rates.
*Translated from Arabic by Malèk Jomni
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