Consumer price index remains negative in December
Greece’s annual headline consumer price inflation stayed negative for a ninth straight month in December, data from the country’s statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.
The reading was -2.3% year-on-year from -2.1% in November.
The data also showed EU-harmonized inflation at -2.4% from -2.1% in the previous month.
Prices were led lower by housing, transportation, apparel and footwear, hit by a second lockdown the country imposed to stem a new surge in Covid-19 infections.
Greece went through a deflationary phase during its 2009-18 debt crisis as wage and pension cuts and a lengthy recession took a heavy toll on household incomes.
Negative inflation hit its highest level in November 2013, when consumer prices registered a 2.9% year-on-year decline.
The economy had emerged from deflation in June 2016 until negative inflation returned last April.
[Reuters]
