Euro-Area Prices Slide at Rate Last Seen in 2009
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Mario Draghi’s deflation challenge was underlined on Friday with prices plunging at a pace last seen in the depths of the recession in 2009.
The annual inflation rate fell to minus 0.6 percent, matching the biggest decline in prices in the history of the single currency, according to data published by Eurostat. The drop exceeded economists’ estimates for a 0.5 percent slump. Unemployment fell to 11.4 percent in December, a separate report showed.