That is further below the European Central Bank’s inflation target close to 2 percent, which it considers a sign of healthy growth in the bloc.

Weak prices can indicate caution in the economy: companies may not be confident enough to raise their selling prices or workers may not have the power to negotiate higher wages, which tend to help push up consumer prices.

Excluding volatile items like energy, inflation was even weaker, at 1.1 percent, up only marginally from December’s 1.0 percent.