However, a further assessment will be made in December on the basis of more up-to-date information. Second, with respect to price developments, euro area HICP inflation fell from 1.2% in August to 1.0% in September 1998.
The generally low level of HICP increases mainly reflects a decline in energy prices, which were almost 4% lower in September than a year earlier, and in other commodity prices; in addition, price pressure as indicated by industrial output prices and unit labour costs has remained modest.