Eurozone prices were unchanged year-on-year in October as expected, a first estimate by Eurostat showed, maintaining pressure on the European Central Bank to further ease monetary policy.

The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat estimated that consumer prices in the 19 countries sharing the euro were unchanged this month against levels 12 months earlier, after falling 0.1 per cent year-on-year in September.

The main factor that kept the overall price index from rising was energy, the cost of which was 8.7 per cent lower this month than a year ago. Unprocessed food was three per cent more expensive.

Without these two volatile elements, the inflation measure that the ECB calls core inflation, was 0.9 per cent in October, up from a downwardly revised 0.8 per cent in September. To gauge core inflation, some economists also look at the same measure but also without prices of alcohol and tobacco.

This also rose to one per cent year-on-year in October from 0.9 per cent in September.

The ECB wants to keep inflation below, but close to two per cent over the medium term and launched in March a government bond buying programme to flood the eurozone economy with cash and in this way accelerate price growth, now stifled by the weak economic growth and very cheap energy.

Concerned that its bond buying plan may not be bringing the desired effects quickly enough, the ECB has signalled it might unveil new stimulus measures at its December meeting.