BRUSSELS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Annual inflation in the 16 nations sharing the euro continued to fall in September to minus 0.3 percent, final figures released on Thursday by the European Union's statistics agency showed.

    It was down from August's minus 0.2 percent but remained unchanged with the first estimates unveiled last month, said the Eurostat.

    A year earlier the rate was 3.6 percent.

    The fall in inflation indicated that economic activity was still weak, Eurostat said.

    Fuels for transport (-0.70 percent), heating oil (-0.34 percent)and gas (-0.19 percent) had the biggest downward impacts in September, while restaurants & cafs (+0.15 percentage points), tobacco (+0.14) and rents (+0.13) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate.

    The main components with the highest annual rates were alcohol &tobacco (4.4 percent), miscellaneous goods & services (2.3 percent)and household equipment (1.5 percent) , while the lowest annual rates were observed for transport (-3.7 percent), housing (-1.6 percent) and food (-1.3 percent).

    The price index in the eurozone has slipped for four months in a row due to the fall of energy costs with July posting an all-time nadir of minus 0.7 percent.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis