Eurozone inflation dips further below target

Official figures show inflation across the euro currency union dipped further below target in December, a development that may prompt the European Central Bank to consider easing monetary policy in coming months, AP reported. Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, says Tuesday that inflation in the year to December fell to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent the month before. Still, the rate is above the 0.7 percent recorded in October, which prompted the ECB to cut its main interest rate to a record low of 0.25 percent. Most economists think the ECB will keep policy unchanged at its meeting Thursday even though inflation is below its target of keeping price rises just below 2 percent. The eurozone grew to 18 member states at the start of 2014 following Latvia's adoption of the currency.