The first drop in eurozone unemployment in three years and a bigger-than-forecast pickup in annual inflation may ease pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to reduce interest rates for the 17-member currency bloc, dpa reported. The jobless rate edged down to 12.1 per cent in October, despite being forecast to remain at September's level of 12.2 per cent, the European Union statistics office Eurostat said Friday. There were 19.298 million people out of work in the 17-member currency bloc in November following a drop of 61,000 from the previous month. The annual rate of consumer inflation, meanwhile, climbed from 0.7 to 0.9 per cent in November, well below the 2 per cent level deemed by the ECB to be right for growth. Analysts had expected inflation to edge up to 0.8 per cent this month, after the metric slumped to a four-year-low of 0.7 per cent in October. The pickup, driven by higher energy and service sector costs, came despite signs of a slowdown in annual food prices. After rising by 1.9 per cent in October, food prices climbed by 1.6 per cent this month, according to Eurostat. The inflation and jobs data comes ahead of next week's monthly meeting of the ECB's governing council, which sets interest rates for the currency bloc. The Frankfurt-based bank is also expected to unveil its latest projections for growth and inflation. -- SPA 17:58 LOCAL TIME 14:58 GMT تغريد
