Germany has become the latest eurozone country to spiral down into deflation, joining its fellow euro area partners.
Inflation fell below zero for the first time since October 2009 with prices dropping by 0.3% in the year to January, according to preliminary estimates from the German statistics agency Destatis.
Eurostat will publish inflation figures for the euro area as a whole on Friday.
One factor in the pot was the fall in oil prices which has brought down inflation in many parts of the world, including Germany. The cost of industrial goods and of food in the eurozone remained flat, with only prices for services going up.
Economists predict that the impact of lower oil costs could keep Germany in negative inflation for at least the coming six months.
The news comes after the ECB launched a €1.1 trillion quantitative easing programme to try to stimulate growth in the region.
Comments
This gilded group - typified by Portugal's higher echelons and the BES scandal and Greece's absurdities - has only ever done what it pleases.
It comprehends nothing about the essence of the European Union. The need for competition and economic growth - regardless of their vested interests.
And to get what it wants the laws of Brussels get distorted and warped to suit the elites wishes. And their own state laws are intentionally vague and confused - so, along with bent judiciary, easy to wriggle through.
The Eurozone and perhaps even the European Union itself, will fail if these countries are allowed to remain in it !
They offer nothing to the EU except self interest, mediocrity and triviality.