(Reuters). Inflation in the euro zone progressed more than expected in January by an increase in energy prices, while economic growth accelerated and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in more than seven years, according to data of the Statistical office of the European Union published on Tuesday.
The inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro accelerated to a 1.8 per cent year-on-year in January, compared to a rise of 1.1 percent in December, reaching the medium-term target of the European Central Bank of close to two percent, but not reaching that threshold.
it Is the highest point since February of 2013.
But underlying inflation, which excludes volatile elements like food and energy, and is the indicator that takes as reference the ECB to adopt its policies, it remained stable at 0.9 percent in January, suggesting that the bank will not change immediately its program of buying bonds.
on the other hand, Eurostat said that Gross Domestic Product in the euro zone rose 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter in the last three months of 2016, as expected by the markets, accumulating a rise of 1.8 percent year-on-year.
For all of 2016, the euro zone’s GDP rose 1.7 percent.
The strong economic growth helped reduce the unemployment of the euro area to 9.6 percent, the lowest rate since may 2009, when the Greek debt crisis had not yet affected the block.
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