Slowing Euro-Area Inflation Helps Draghi Push Back Exit Talk
- Consumer prices rise 1.2% in February after 1.3% in January
- Rate well below target before ECB’s policy meeting next week
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A third month of slowing inflation in the euro-area has given European Central Bank President Mario Draghi ammunition to ward supporters of a faster stimulus exit a little while longer.
The rate of price growth slowed to 1.2 percent this month from 1.3 percent, dropping to its weakest since 2016. The core measure was unchanged at 1 percent. The figures follow a series of releases that have checked the economy’s thundering momentum at the start of 2018, which had emboldened policy makers who want a faster unwinding of the central bank’s crisis-era monetary stimulus.