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 euro area inflation, services 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 rate at 2% for the third consecutive time in late October, having last cut rates in June.
The trim, which coincided with euro 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 record high of 4%.
Top ECB board members have told CNBC in recent months that the 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 told 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.