Inflation nears ECB target of 2% in January

Eurozone inflation neared the European Central Bank's (ECB) medium-term target in January as it fell to 2.0 percent, EU data showed on Friday. The drop, from 2.2 percent in December, took the measure of annual price rises to its lowest level since November 2010, when inflation stood 1.9 percent. The ECB has established a medium-term inflation target of "close to but below 2.0 percent." The Eurostat data agency's flash estimate approached that threshold owing to easing pressure on energy prices, which rose by 3.9 percent in January, down from 5.2 percent in December. Food, alcohol and tobacco inflation was also stable, at 3.2 percent, with slight drops in price rises for services (1.7 percent compared with 1.8 percent in December) and non-energy industrial goods (0.8 percent compared with 1.0 percent in December). Eurozone inflation has been falling since August and benchmark Germany posted a rate of 2.0 percent in December, with the bloc's second biggest economy, France, markedly lower at 1.5 percent. Italy and Spain, though, were each still well above the average for the 17-nation currency area.