Eurozone inflation slips, eases pressure on ECB

Inflation in the eurozone edged down to 2.6 per cent in March, helping to ease the pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB), preliminary data released showed, according to dpa. Annual consumer price growth in the 17-member currency bloc was 2.7 per cent in February, the European Union statistics office Eurostat said. This took consumer prices in the eurozone down closer to the 2-per-cent annual target set by the ECB. The decline gives the Frankfurt-based bank more room to manoeuvre in its efforts to deal with the eurozone's ongoing debt crisis and to bolster economic confidence in the region. Signs of lower consumer prices mean that it should be easier for the fiercely anti-inflationary ECB to press on with trimming interest rates if the eurozone economy takes a sudden turn for the worse in the coming months. The March fall in inflation, as set out in the Eurostat preliminary data, was in line with analysts' forecasts.