Inflation not an issue in eurozone says ECB boss

His comments came after data showed eurozone inflation rose 2.2 per cent year-on-year in December, exceeding the ECB's 2 per cent target for the first time in two years.

Inflation expectations also surged in the final month of 2010 and a forward-looking indicator from the Economic Cycle Research Institute showed inflationary pressures built up to a 25-month high in the eurozone during November on the back of upturns in Germany and France.

But Trichet said all indicators pointed to price stability being secured "for the foreseeable future, too".

He told a meeting of the Bavarian Conservative Party: "Europe has not become an inflation community and it won't become one.

"The euro is a stable currency, as stable as its most stable predecessor currencies, including the Deutschemark."

Meanwhile, data showed that the economy of the 16 countries that used the euro grew by less than previously expected in the third quarter of 2010.

Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, said the eurozone saw output rise by 0.3 per cent during the quarter, down on the previous estimate of 0.4 per cent and below the 1 per cent growth recorded in the second quarter.