The euro slipped in value as inflation across the eurozone saw downward revisions for February.
According to Eurostat data, headline inflation rose by 2.3% year-over-year, down from 2.5% in January and below the previous estimate of 2.4%. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, eased to 2.6%, marking its lowest level since January 2022.
These lower-than-expected inflation figures reinforce expectations that inflation in the eurozone is steadily returning toward the European Central Bank’s target of 2%. France recorded the lowest inflation rate in the eurozone at 0.9%, while Hungary had the highest at 5.7%.
On a monthly basis, Belgium saw the sharpest inflation increase, rising 2.4%, followed by the Netherlands (1.4%) and Estonia (1.3%). Portugal was the only country to experience a decline in prices (-0.1%), while consumer prices remained stable in Greece and Croatia.
Services contributed the most to eurozone inflation in February, accounting for +1.66 percentage points, followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco (+0.52 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+0.14 pp), and energy (+0.01 pp).
