Inflation within the eurozone remained stable in November, standing at 2.1% over a year, according to a new Eurostat estimate, comforting expectations of a new ECB pause on the eve of its monetary policy meeting.

The European Statistical Office on Wednesday revised down its initial estimate, revealed in early December, which showed a slight rise in inflation in November, to 2.2% over a year.

The revision is mainly explained by slightly lower price increases than initially estimated for unprocessed food products and industrial goods (excluding energy).

Underlying inflation – corrected for volatile energy and food prices -, which experts refer to, was confirmed at 2.4% year-on-year, an unchanged level from the previous month.

This second Eurostat estimate has something to comfort economists’ expectations, as the ECB meets on Thursday to review its interest rates. They were already globally tabulating a maintenance of the monetary authority’s key rates, which should extend the long pause that began this summer, with a deposit rate remaining fixed at 2% since July.

This pause follows a one-year phase of rate cuts that had accompanied the rebound of inflation in Europe.

Within the euro area, inflation has indeed eased very sharply since the one-year record of 10.6% reached in October 2022, amid a flare-up in energy prices related to the war in Ukraine.

It is this widespread easing movement in inflation, which has come in around the 2% level targeted by the ECB, that has prompted the latter to cut its key rates eight times, between June 2024 and June 2025.