Eurozone inflation sinks further into ‘danger zone’

Eurozone inflation fell in July to its lowest level since the height of the financial crisis nearly five years ago, data showed yesterday, highlighting deflation risks on the European Central Bank’s radar.

Consumer prices in the 18 countries sharing the euro rose by 0.4% year-on-year in July, the weakest annual rise since October 2009 when prices fell by 0.1%, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said.

Annual core inflation — which excludes energy, food, tobacco and alcohol costs — stood unchanged at 0.8% for the second month in a row.