Europe’s inflation eased to 2.9% in October

Frankfurt: The inflation that has been wearing on European consumers fell sharply to 2.9 per cent in October, its lowest in more than two years as fuel prices fell and rapid interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank took hold. But that encouraging news was balanced by official figures showing economic output in the 20 countries that use the euro shrank by 0.1 per cent in the July-September quarter. Inflation fell from an annual 4.3 per cent in September as fuel prices fell by 11.1 per cent and painful food inflation slowed, to 7.5 per cent.