Eurostat’s October flash estimate put annual euro-area inflation at 4%, with energy costs accelerating the headline rate even as monthly price growth slowed from September.
Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, reported that October’s figure was 0.2 percentage points above September’s 3.8% annual rate. Energy prices were 20.8% higher than a year earlier, compared with 18.9% in September. The all-items Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) advanced 0.4% month over month, slower than September’s 0.6% increase. The annual measure compares each month with the same month a year earlier; the monthly rate compares adjacent months.
Services inflation was 3.3%, up from 3.2% in September. Food, alcohol and tobacco prices rose 1.6%, compared with 1.3%, while non-energy industrial goods increased 1.2%, from 1.1%. Annual rates for all three groups were higher than the previous month.
The HICP measure excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco remained at 2.5% year over year. It rose 0.3% from September, after a 0.2% monthly increase.
Reuters reported that its poll of economists had forecast a 4.0% annual rate for October.
The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its three key rates unchanged on Oct. 29: 2.50% for deposits, 2.65% for main refinancing and 2.90% for marginal lending. The bank said energy prices posed upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth, with future rate decisions dependent on incoming data and made meeting by meeting. It also warned that further energy supply disruptions could weaken real incomes and weigh on spending and investment.
Eurostat’s euro-area data series covers 21 member countries, following Bulgaria’s entry into the currency bloc on Jan. 1, 2026. The October figures are flash estimates; the full HICP release is scheduled for Nov. 18.
