Euro area inflation remains subdued

January 29, 2010 - 0 comments

Brussels -- Inflation continued at a modest pace in the European Union in January, the organization's statistical branch Eurostat said Friday.

Inflation in the euro zone, the 16 countries that share the euro as currency, rose 1 percent in January after a 0.9 percent rise in December, Eurostat said.

The figure is a "flash estimate" based on the Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices, a combination of consumer information and preliminary energy price reports.

Eurostat does not release a state-by-state breakdown of the estimate, but calls the estimate a reliable gauge of inflation, the figure having proved accurate in 18 of the past 24 months and off by 0.1 percent in six of the past 24 months.

The euro area is defined as the combined nations of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.