Eurozone economy stutters

3Q growth for 19-country region pegged at 0.3 percent

LONDON — Economic growth in the 19-country eurozone remained modest in the third quarter, official figures showed Monday, the latest sign that the singlecurrency bloc failed to fully capitalize on positive influences such as low oil prices and various central bank stimulus measures.

Figures from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, showed that the eurozone eked out another quarter of economic growth of 0.3 percent in the July through September period.

Though it had to contend with uncertainty generated by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, the eurozone’s economic performance remains fairly lackluster. If repeated in the final quarter of the year, the eurozone economy will register growth of only 1.5 percent in 2016.

A country-by-country breakdown of the eurozone’s growth rates was not provided, but the bloc likely will have relied on Germany, its powerhouse economy. Many countries — including France and Italy, the bloc’s second- and third-biggest economies — have shown few signs of emerging from their years of stagnation, while those at the heart of the eurozone’s debt crisis, notably Greece, still have budgetary problems.

Growth of 0.3 percent is unlikely to make much of a dent in the region’s unemployment rate, which still stands at 10.1 percent, about double the rate in the United States. It’s also not high enough to stoke much-needed inflationary pressures in the eurozone.

“Growth is solid but … still insufficient to generate significant inflationary pressures,” said Cathal Kennedy, European economist at RBC Capital Markets.

Eurostat also revealed Monday that the eurozone’s inflation rate edged up to 0.5 percent in the year to October from 0.4 percent the previous month. That’s the highest since June 2014, when inflation also was 0.5 percent. But inflation still is low by historical standards and remains way below the European Central Bank’s target of just below 2 percent.

The increase in the headline rate was due largely to energy prices — oil especially — having rebounded over the past few months. In recent months, oil prices have started to rise again, partly because of discussions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, about a production cut.

The headline crude oil rate stands at about $50 a barrel. Though way down from the $100 rate seen in summer 2014, it’s up substantially from the start of this year, when it fell below $30 for the first time in more than a decade.