In Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, annual inflation slid to 11.3% from 11.6%, while price gains in France held steady at 7.1%, Wednesday’s data showed. Inflation in Italy ticked down to 12.5% from 12.6%, while Spain saw a larger decline, to 6.6% from 7.3%.
Prices are still climbing at an uncomfortably fast clip, however, driven up by the increasing cost of energy and food.
While energy price inflation fell to roughly 35% year-over-year, compared to nearly 42% in October, prices for food, alcohol and tobacco continued to rise sharply. They leaped by 13.6% in November, versus 13.1% the previous month.
And core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, held firm at 5%.
“The fact that we’re seeing that these numbers are lower than most of us were expecting, that’s good news,” said Bert Colijn, senior eurozone economist at ING. “You’ve got to start somewhere.”
Double-digit inflation remains a huge problem for policymakers, who have indicated they will press ahead with efforts to get prices under control. Still, the November numbers could give the European Central Bank space to boost rates by half a percentage point instead of by three-quarters of a percentage point when it meets next month.
