The eurozone’s inflation rate unexpectedly turned negative in September for the first time in six months as consumer prices in the currency bloc fell by 0.1% from a year earlier, NewsNow reported. This preliminary data, released last week by the European statistics office, Eurostat, puts more pressure on the European Central Bank to step up its monetary easing program to stimulate growth in the region. Economists predicted an inflation rate of zero. In the meantime, Eurostat also released data that showed that the eurozone unemployment rate remained unchanged at double-digit level in August as businesses generated fewer jobs amid weak economic growth. The unemployment rate held steady at 11% in August. Economists expected unemployment to decline to 10.9%.
