Slovakia deflation puts more pressure on European Central Bank

Slovakia has became the third eurozone country to slide into deflation.

In February consumer prices were down 0.1 percent from January. They also fell by the same amount from February last year.

Slovakia joins Greece and Cyprus. They had annual deflation in January of around 1.5 percent. Portugal and Spain are hovering around zero.

This puts more pressure on the European Central Bank to do something to prevent deflation spreading further in the eurozone.

ECB President Mario Draghi doesn’t believe it is a threat though and has said there is no need for more stimulus right now.

Many many economists disagree, including some at the International Monetary Fund.

Euro zone inflation stood at 0.8 percent in January, far below the ECB’s target of just under 2.0 percent.

Draghi has admitted that the longer inflation stays at such low levels, the harder it will be to get it back up to that target.