BRUSSELS, Nov 17 (Reuters) – More expensive services and food were the main drivers of consumer price growth in the euro zone in October, data showed on Friday, as the EU’s statistics office confirmed year-on-year inflation slowed sharply.
Eurostat said consumer inflation in the 20 countries using the euro decelerated to 2.9% year-on-year in October from 4.3% in September after prices rose 0.1% month-on-month.
Price rises in the services sectors, the biggest part of the euro zone economy, added 1.97 percentage points to the final year-on-year number and more expensive food, alcohol and tobacco added another 1.48 percentage points.
A sharp fall in energy prices subtracted 1.45 points from the final number while non-energy industrial goods added another 0.9 percentage points.
The European Central Bank wants to keep inflation at 2.0% over the medium term and has raised interest rates to record highs to slow down price growth, at the same time slowing euro zone economic growth.
In the table below there is included the core rate of inflation referred to by the European Central Bank, which excludes volatile energy and unprocessed food costs.
Euro area inflation rates in % for main components, measured by HICPs
| Weights (‰) | Annual rate | Monthly rate | |||||||
| 2023 | Oct 22 | May 23 | Jun 23 | Jul 23 | Aug 23 | Sep 23 | Oct 23 | Oct 23 | |
| All-items HICP | 1000.0 | 10.6 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 0.1 |
| > excluding energy | 897.7 | 6.9 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 4.9 | 0.2 |
| > excluding energy, unprocessed food | 852.7 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 0.2 |
| > excluding energy, food, alcohol & tobacco | 697.9 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 0.2 |
| > excluding energy, seasonal food | 872.3 | 6.7 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 5.4 | 5.0 | 0.2 |
| > excluding tobacco | 978.6 | 10.8 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 4.3 | 2.8 | 0.1 |
| Food, alcohol & tobacco | 199.8 | 13.1 | 12.5 | 11.6 | 10.8 | 9.7 | 8.8 | 7.4 | 0.2 |
| > excluding processed food, alcohol & tobacco | 154.8 | 12.4 | 13.4 | 12.4 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 9.4 | 8.4 | 0.1 |
| > excluding unprocessed food | 45.0 | 15.5 | 9.6 | 9.0 | 9.2 | 7.8 | 6.6 | 4.5 | 0.7 |
| Energy | 102.3 | 41.5 | -1.8 | -5.6 | -6.1 | -3.3 | -4.6 | -11.2 | -1.1 |
| Non-energy industrial goods | 262.7 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 0.6 |
| Services | 435.3 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 0.0 |
For Eurostat release, click on:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/news/euro-indicators
