FRANKFURT (AFP) - Inflation in Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy, slowed this month, as falling food and tourism prices offset persistently high oil and energy prices, key regional data showed.
In the southern state of Bavaria, the consumer price index (CPI) slipped by 0.3 percent in September from the figure for August and was 2.1 percent higher than it had been in September 2003, the regional statistics office in Munich said in a statement.
The 12-month rate of inflation was therefore slower this month than the 2.3 percent recorded in August.
Similar developments were seen in other key regional states.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, the cost of living was up buy 1.6 percent year-on-year in September, compared with 1.8 percent the previous month.
And in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the annual rate of inflation slowed to 1.9 percent from 2.2 percent.
Consumer price statistics for six so-called indicator states -- Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony -- are used to calculate preliminary pan-German inflation.
Already on Thursday, CPI data had been released for Hesse, Brandenburg and Saxony.
In the central state of Hesse, inflation stood at 1.4 percent in September, down from 1.6 percent in August.
In Brandenburg, regional CPI slipped to 2.1 percent on a 12-month basis in September from 2.2 percent in August. And in Saxony, 12-month inflation stood at 1.5 percent this month compared with 1.9 percent last month.
The federal statistics office in Wiesbaden was scheduled to publish preliminary pan-German September CPI later on Friday.