Euro area CPI eases sharply in September

(Sharecast News) - The cost of living in the single currency bloc eased sharply in September. According to Eurostat, in seasonally adjusted terms the Eurozone Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3% month-on-month.

That however was enough for the annual rate of increase to fall back from 5.2% for August to 4.3% in September.

Economists had expected a year-on-year rate of 4.5%.

The same was true of the core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol and tobacco, which rose by 0.2% on the month but alongside a drop in the annual rate from 5.3% to 4.5% (consensus: 4.8%).

In terms of the monthly comparison, non-energy industrial goods prices jumped by 2.2%, while those for energy climbed 1.4%.

Services prices on the other hand fell by 0.9%.

By countries, the year-on-year rate of increase in CPI in Germany slowed from 6.4% in August to 4.3% in September.

In parallel, CPI in the Netherlands fell from 3.4% to -0.3%.

French CPI meanwhile ticked lower from 5.7% to 5.6%, although in Italy it edged up from 5.5% to 5.7%.

Spanish CPI on the other hand rose from 2.4% to 3.2%.

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