German inflation continues to ease in February

Germany's inflation rate continued easing in February, as consumer prices growth slowed to its lowest level since August 2010, official data showed on Friday. Annualized inflation rate measured by consumer price index (CPI) in Europe's largest economy declined to 1.2 percent in February, following a rate of 1.3 percent in January and 1.4 percent in December last year, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said in a statement. The Wiesbaden-based office attributed the low inflation to downward development of mineral oil products prices, which dropped by 6.8 percent in February, compared with the same month of previous year. Food prices rose by 3.5 percent, it said. Measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), the European Central Bank's yardstick, German annualized inflation rate was down to 1 percent last month from 1.2 percent in January, far below ECB's medium maintenance target of "below but close to 2 percent." Inflation in the eurozone has remained below 1 percent since October 2013, prompting fears of deflation in the common currency area. According to flash expectations of the European Union's statistical office, inflation in the eurozone was only 0.8 percent in February. The European Central Bank, however, has repeatedly rejected the warning, forecasting that the annual inflation to be 1 percent in 2014, and rise to 1.3 percent in 2015, 1.5 percent in 2016. Last week, the central bank decided to keep the interest rates unchanged at its record low of 0.25 percent.