The euro zone's harmonised index of consumer prices rose a final 2.3 pct year-on-year in November, revised down from a provisional rise of 2.4 pct, EU statistics office Eurostat said
Month-on-month, the HICP fell 0.3 pct in November Economists polled by AFX News had expected the November year-on-year inflation rate to be left at 2.4 pct and were looking for a month-on-month decline in the HICP of 0.2 pct
Inflation has slowed over the past two months after reaching a four-year high of 2.6 pct in September. It slowed to 2.5 pct in October before the further decline recorded in November, but it remains above the European Central Bank's target of a rate just under 2.0 pct Energy prices continue to account for a large part of the annual inflation rate
Although energy prices fell 3.0 pct month-on-month in November, the year-on-year rise in energy prices was still 10.0 pct, down from 12.1 pct in October and 15.0 pct in September
Eurostat said fuels for transport had the largest upward impact on the overall euro zone inflation rate in November, contributing 0.29 percentage points to the 2.3 pct headline figure But core inflation remained benign
Eurostat said prices excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco -- its favoured measure of core inflation -- were up 1.4 pct year-on-year in November, unchanged from the October rate of increase. Prices excluding energy and unprocessed food rose 1.5 pct year-on-year, also unchanged from the October rise. This measure of core inflation is closely watched by the ECB