Berlin - Annual inflation in the eurozone rose more-than-forecast in November as a result helping to ease the pressure on the European Central Bank to act to boost growth in the 17-member currency bloc.
The annual cost of living in the eurozone climbed to 0.9% in November after it slumped to a four-year-low of 0.7% in October, the European Union statistics office Eurostat said.
Analysts had expected consumer prices would edge up to 0.8% in November.
"The uptick in eurozone inflation in November will ease concerns about deflationary risks and hence takes off some of the pressure on the ECB to take further pre-emptive action at the coming week's policy meeting," said ING Bank economist Martin van Vliet.
Weak growth
Still, the Frankfurt-based ECB has room to move to launch further action to help ensure the eurozone remains on a growth path after its economy expanded by a meagre 0.1% in the three months to the end of September.
Annual inflation in November remained well below the ECB's 2% ceiling.
The sharp drop in annual inflation during October combined with weak growth in the eurozone economy prompted the ECB to trim rates to a historic low of 0.25% earlier in November.
The pickup in November inflation came despite a fall in annual food prices, which rose by 1.6% compared with 1.9% in October.
Service sector costs grew by 1.5% compared with 1.2% in October and energy edged up to -1.1% compared with -1.7% in October.