German inflation remains below ECB target in January

BERLIN (Reuters) - German annual inflation remained below the European Central Bank's target level in January, preliminary data showed on Wednesday, suggesting that price pressures in Europe's biggest economy are still moderate despite record-low interest rates.

German consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries, rose by 1.7 percent year-on-year after the same increase in the previous month, the Federal Statistics Office said.

The ECB targets inflation of close to but below 2 percent for the euro zone as a whole.

On the month, EU-harmonised prices fell by 1.0 percent, the preliminary numbers showed.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; editing by Thomas Seythal)