Euro-Area Inflation Slows to 0.8% as Economy Strains to Grow

Euro-area inflation slowed in December, retreating farther from the European Central Bank’s ceiling as the 18-nation currency bloc struggled to strengthen its recovery from a record-long recession.

The annual rate dipped to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent in November, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said in a preliminary estimate today. That’s in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 31 economists. The rate has been below the ECB’s 2 percent ceiling for 11 months, and sank to a four-year low of 0.7 percent in October.