Eurozone inflation Up at 0.9 Percent in November

(AP) Eurozone inflation up at 0.9 percent in November
BRUSSELS
Official figures show that the inflation rate in the 17-country eurozone rose modestly in November, a development that may ease the pressure on the European Central Bank to loosen its monetary policy further next week.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, says Friday that consumer prices were up 0.9 percent in the year to November. That’s up from October’s 0.7 percent rate and slightly ahead of market expectations for 0.8 percent.

Still, inflation remains well below the ECB’s target to keep inflation just below 2 percent. It was the sharp fall in October that prompted the central bank to cut its main interest rate to a record low of 0.25 percent.

Separately, Eurostat says unemployment across the eurozone eased from September’s record high of 12.2 percent to 12.1 percent in October.