BRUSSELS, July 31 - The euro zone inflation rate fell to 1.9 percent in July from 2.0 percent in June, according to an early estimate released on Thursday by the European Union statistics office. That is slightly below the expectations of economists, who on average had forecast an inflation rate of 2.0 percent following data from Germany and Italy. Economists' forecasts ranged from 1.9 to 2.2 percent. The decline in inflation comes as the European Central Bank's governing council meets for the last time before its summer break with economists overwhelmingly expecting the benchmark rate to be kept at its historic low of 2.0 percent. The ECB's target is for inflation to be below, but close to, 2.0 percent. A more detailed breakdown of inflation developments, including the monthly change in consumer prices, will be released later this month.