Slower energy price increases helped cool inflation in the euro zone as expected in August.
EU statistics office Eurostat said consumer prices in the 12 countries using the euro rose 0.1 per cent month-on-month in August and confirmed a 2.3 per cent year-on-year rise, down from an annual rate of 2.4 per cent in July and 2.5 per cent in June.
Inflation was still mainly driven by expensive energy, with prices jumping 8.1 per cent year-on-year. But that was slower than the leaps of 9.5 per cent in July and 11 per cent in June.
Without energy and volatile unprocessed food prices, the measure the ECB and the European Commission call core inflation, prices grew only 1.5 per cent in annual terms, slowing from 1.6 per cent in July.
The ECB wants to keep inflation just below 2 per cent. Markets expect the bank to raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent on October 5th to stem inflationary pressures from energy and fast credit growth amid a rebounding economy.
Most economists also expect another 25 basis point rise in December, which would take the main refinancing rate to 3.5 per cent even though markets expect inflation to ease further over the next two months as annual energy price rises shrink.
Separately, Eurostat said the euro zone had a non-seasonally adjusted €1.5 billion euro trade surplus in July, the same as in June, but less than a quarter of the number a year earlier as imports grew twice as fast as exports.
The rise in imports likely stemmed mainly from energy purchases, which rose 44 per cent in the first six months of the year against the same period of 2005 to €150.8 billion.
Seasonally adjusted, however, the euro zone had a trade deficit of €6.4 billion - a gap that has widened since March.