31 July, 2017
Meanwhile, unemployment in the eurozone fell in June to the lowest level since February 2009 as Europe's economic recovery continued to strengthen, official European Union figures showed.
The latest Euro-Zone inflation figures from show Eurostat annual inflation unchanged at 1.3%, in-line with market expectations, while the core reading rose to 1.3% from 1.2% in June and against expectations of 1.1%.
In fact, the European Central Bank has taken on around €1.2 trillion ($1.4 trillion) in assets as part of its effort to both stoke currency area inflation and protect the euro from existential risks liked to the region's 2012 debt crisis - an effort that was expressed just over five years ago by Draghi's now-famous "whatever it takes" speech in London. "Moreover, measures of underlying inflation remain overall at subdued levels", Draghi told reporters in Frankfurt after the Bank's regular interest rate setting meeting on July 20. "We expect a QE tapering announcement this autumn".
In a separate release, Eurostat said unemployment in the 19-country currency bloc dropped to its lowest level since 2009 at 9.1 percent, confirming a robust recovery in the currency bloc.
In Italy unemployment dropped to 11.1 percent in June from 11.3 percent in May, meaning that almost 60,000 were added to the Italian workforce.
The lowest unemployment rates were seen in Czech Republic, Germany, and Malta, while the highest rates were seen in Greece and Spain.
One of the ECB's dilemmas is that a steady decline in unemployment is not translating into higher wages, a key driver of inflation.
