Finland Times

Euro area inflation kept stable in August at 0.2 percent, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union on Monday.

     Price of food, alcohol and tobacco rose by 1.2 percent, more than the 0.9 percent in July. Services inflation rate also turned out to be 1.2 percent, stable compared with July. The two sectors contributed most to this month's inflation.

     Non-energy industrial goods followed, with the price up by 0.6 percent, more than the 0.4 percent in July.

     Energy price, however, continued to plunge this month, at negative 7.1 percent, greater than the negative 5.6 percent in July.

     The data is far below the "below, but close to 2 percent" target of the European Central Bank, which suggested that the bank's one-trillion-euro (about 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars) quantitative easing had yet received desired effects and raised pressure on the bloc's expansionary monetary policy.