Malta's unemployment rate in September was nearly two percentage points below the eurozone average, according to new statistics published by Eurostat yesterday.

Continuing its downward trend, the jobless figure fell to 5.6 per cent among all those willing to work, down slightly from 5.7 per cent in August and almost one percentage point below the previous September's 6.4 per cent.

The decline was registered across the board, including among women and mainly in the under-25 category.

Unemployment in the 15-member euro area remained unchanged from the previous month, at an average of 7.5 per cent. In the EU 27 the average unemployment rate dropped slightly to seven per cent.

Among the EU member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (2.5 per cent) and Denmark (2.9 per cent), while the highest was witnessed in Spain (11.9 per cent) and Slovakia (10 per cent).

Meanwhile, Eurostat is forecasting that inflation will continue to drop further in October - according to its estimates, the average inflation rate in the euro area will go down to 3.2 per cent, or 0.4 of a per cent lower than the previous month. Malta's inflation rate in September stood at 4.9 per cent.

This latest forecast fuels expectations that next week the European Central Bank will further trim interest rates across the euro area to help the struggling economy.