Euro zone inflation stayed well above the European Central Bank's target in December.
A first estimate from the European Union's statistics office Eurostat today showed that consumer prices among the countries using the euro last month rose 3.1 per cent year-on-year, the same as in November.
The figure was in line with economists' forecast by economists, who said signs of an economic slowdown would keep interest rates unchanged in 2008.
The ECB wants to keep inflation just below 2 per cent, but a surge in oil and food prices since September has knocked it off target after a year of success.
Activity in the euro zone's services sector, which generates some two-thirds of GDP, cooled to a two-and-a-half-year low in December, other data showed today.