Eurozone inflation slows to 2.1% in October

BRUSSELS: Eurozone inflation eased in October, official data showed Friday, thanks to a faster fall in energy costs and a slowdown in the rate of food and drink price rises.

Consumer price rises reached 2.1 percent this month, moving closer towards the European Central Bank's two-percent target. The figure was in line with forecasts by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and FactSet.

The data will reinforce the ECB's view that inflation is in check after the bank decided to keep interest rates unchanged again Thursday.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, was also unchanged at 2.4 percent in October from the previous month -- disappointing expectations it would slow to 2.3 percent.

Energy costs, however, fell further by 1.0 percent in October -- a significantly larger decline than the 0.4 percent recorded in September, Eurostat data showed.

Food, alcohol and tobacco price rises eased to 2.5 percent this month, from 3.0 percent the previous month.

Consumer price rises in Germany and France, the EU's biggest economies, also slowed in October to 2.3 percent and 0.9 percent respectively, Eurostat said.