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Queue outside a supermarket in Madrid
Photo: Manu Fernandez / dpa
After months of falling prices, the cost of living in the euro area rose again for the first time at the start of the year.
In January consumer prices rose by 0.9 percent compared to the same month last year.
This was announced by the European statistical authority Eurostat and thus confirmed an initial estimate.
In December and in the three months before, the cost of living had fallen by 0.3 percent each.
Energy prices are important for the development of the inflation rate.
Although these fell by 4.2 percent year-on-year in January, the decline was much weaker than in the previous months.
The core rate excluding energy, food and beverages was 1.4 percent in January.
In December it was only 0.2 percent.
The January figures are unlikely to be meaningful, however, as special effects such as the expiry of the temporary VAT cut and the introduction of a CO2 tax in Germany have distorted them.
With the new data, the European Central Bank's (ECB) target of inflation of just under two percent has come a little closer - the ECB considers this to be optimal for the economy.
The monetary authorities have missed their target since spring 2013. Most recently, the second wave of pandemics and tough lockdown measures in the euro countries had slowed economic activity and thus inflation.
The central bank therefore operates a very loose monetary policy.
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dab / dpa / Reuters