BRUSSELS, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The eurozone annual inflation rate confirmed at 1.9 percent in May, up from revised 1.3 percent in April and matching the European Central Bank's target inflation of "below, but close to 2 percent," according to a final data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union(EU) on Friday.
The core inflation, which excludes the volatile energy and food prices, recorded at 1.1 percent,up from revised 0.8 percent in the previous month.
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced Thursday that it would very likely draw a full stop to its massive asset purchase.
As regards outlook of the euro area, the ECB revised the GDP growth projection for 2018 down to 2.1 percent, followed by even lower growth rate of 1.9 percent and 1.7 percent in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
In contrast, the ECB is increasingly confident about the inflation development in eurozone towards its aim.
It revised annual inflation forecast notably up for 2018 and 2019, namely to 1.7 percent for both years, basically meeting ECB's policy aim -- below but close to 2 percent in the medium term.