Euro zone inflation was confirmed at 1.9 per cent for May, with consumer prices flat from the previous month, the European Union statistics office said today.
Inflation subsided from 2.1 per cent in March and came in below the European Central Bank's two per cent target for the first time since June 2002.
Still, financial markets are likely to take the data in their stride given that the ECB has cut interest rates by half a percentage point since the early estimate of the headline inflation rate was released. ECB policymakers said on Monday the outlook for stable prices was good and that interest rates were not a barrier to a rebound in growth.
A breakdown of the data showed energy prices fell 2.0 per cent on a monthly basis and rose 0.7 per cent from a year earlier. Core prices, which exclude volatile energy and unprocessed food costs, rose 0.1 per cent from the previous month and 2 per cent from a year ago.