A Christmas market in Cottbus, Germany.
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Euro zone inflation stood at 2.2% in November, marking a slight rise from the previous month, flash data from data agency Eurostat showed Tuesday.
The latest consumer price index reading is just a shade above the European Central Bank’s 2% target. Economists polled by Reuters expected a reading of 2.1% for the twelve months to November.
Looking at the main components of┬аeuro area┬аinflation,┬аservices is expected to have the highest annual rate in November, at 3.5% compared with 3.4% in October, Eurostat said.
Core inflation, which excludes more volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, was at 2.4% in November, unchanged from the previous month.
The ECB held its key deposit facility┬аrate at 2% for the third consecutive time in late October, having last cut rates in June.
The trim, which coincided with┬аeuro zone inflation hitting the ECB’s target rate of 2%, was part of a rate-cutting cycle that has brought rates down from last year’s┬аrecord┬аhigh┬аof 4%.
Top ECB board members have told CNBC in recent months that┬аthe easing cycle is close to, or at its end although the central bank has repeatedly said it will take a meeting-by-meeting and data dependent approach to rate setting.
After the October trim, ECB President Christine Lagarde┬аtold CNBC that from a monetary policy point of view, the economy is in a good place.
“Is it a fixed, good place? No. But we will do whatever is needed to make sure we stay in a good place,” she said.
