BRUSSELS (AP) — Official figures show that inflation across the 19-country eurozone fell in February for the third month running even though the region is growing at its fastest rate in a decade.

Eurostat said Wednesday that the headline measure of consumer price inflation eased to 1.2 percent in the year to February from 1.3 percent the year before. The fall, which takes inflation to its lowest level since December 2016, was anticipated following subdued German figures.

When stripping out volatile items like energy and food, inflation held steady at 1 percent.

Both measures are below the European Central Bank's goal of achieving inflation of just below 2 percent and will likely reinforce expectations that policy will remain unchanged at its meeting next week.