Eurozone annual inflation fell for the first time in 17 months in November, declining to 10% from 10.6% in October, according to the latest Eurostat flash estimate.
Annual inflation in the cost of energy fell from 41.5% to 34.9% month-on-month, accounting for much of the slowdown, but inflation in the price of food, alcohol & tobacco rose from 13.1% to 13.6%.
Inflation in non-industrial goods was stable 6.1%, and inflation in services fell slightly from 4.3% to 4.2%.
Excluding energy, the rate of inflation in the 19 eurozone countries would be 7%, and 5% when excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco.
Eurostat estimated annual inflation of 9% in Ireland, down from 9.4% in October, the joint-12th highest rate among the 19 countries that use the euro currency, with inflation in excess of 20% in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
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Annual inflation in Germany fell to 11.3%, while in Italy it was more or less stable at 12.5%. The rate was unchanged at 7.1% in France, and inflation in Ireland was in line with both Greece and Finland.
At 6.6%, Spain had the lowest rate of annual inflation, behind France, Malta (7.2%) and Luxembourg (7.3%)
Overall, consumer prices across the eurozone were estimated to have fallen 0.1% between October and November, and risen 0.2% in Ireland.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates three times this year, progressively increasing its main lending rate from 0% to 2%, as the financial regulator seeks to guide inflation back towards its 2% medium-term target.
It is expected the ECB could announce a further 0.5% increase next month, with Irish retail banks having already raised their mortgage rates to compensate. AIB, in fact, has raised mortgage rates twice since October.
Recent months have also seen Irish energy providers widely implement price hikes, and health insurer Irish Life Health announced price increases last week, stoking expectations that rivals Laya Healthcare and Vhi will do similar.
Photo: Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB). (Pic: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
