MADRID (Reuters) – Euro zone inflation is still expected to fall next year as the factors driving it remain temporary but the rate of its decline will be slower than earlier seen, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Friday.
“Inflation next year will undoubtedly slow down, but the intensity of the fall is perhaps not what we expected a few months ago,” he said an interview with Spanish radio station Onda Cero.
Inflation exceeded 4% last month, more than twice the ECB’s 2% target, and will still go higher in the coming months on soaring energy and shipping prices, and some tax hikes.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo Gonzalez and Jesús Aguado; Writing by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
