Eurozone inflation slowed unexpectedly in January largely due to a slowdown in energy cost, flash estimate from Eurostat showed Friday.

Inflation fell to 2 percent in January from 2.2 percent in December. Inflation was forecast to remain unchanged 2.2 percent.

Energy prices rose at a slower pace of 3.9 percent after increasing 5.2 percent a month ago. The increase in food, alcohol and tobacco prices remained unchanged at 3.2 percent. Cost of services, at the same time, climbed 1.7 percent compared to 1.8 percent last month.

A separate report showed that the unemployment rate in the 17-nation currency bloc remained unchanged at 11.7 percent in December.

In December, about 18.715 million were unemployed in the euro area. Compared with November, the number of persons unemployed was nearly stable in the euro area.