Inflation across Europe fell to a two-year low of 2.9% in October from 4.3% the previous month.
The latest inflation reading in Europe is below the consensus forecast of 3.1% among economists who were polled by the Reuters News Agency.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, declined to 4.2% year-over-year in October, down from 4.5% in September of this year.
Statistics agency Eurostat also released data that showed Europe’s economy contracted by 0.1% in this year’s third quarter, which was below the consensus estimate of economists for GDP to be unchanged from the previous second quarter.
The 20-countries that use the Euro currency have been struggling with high inflation over the last 18 months, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) peaking at 10.6% in October 2022.
The European Central Bank enacted 10 consecutive interest rate hikes that took its key rate to a record high of 4%, before deciding to pause last week on any further increases.
The central bank said in announcing its most recent interest rate decision that it expects Europe’s economy to grow by 0.7% this year, 1% in 2024, and 1.5% in 2025.
Europe’s largest economy, Germany, recorded a 0.1% quarterly decline in its GDP for the third quarter, slightly better than the 0.3% decline forecast by economists.
