AFP - Inflation in the 16 countries using the euro remained at a record low of 0.6 percent in April, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said in a first estimate Thursday.

The Eurostat figures leave 12-month eurozone inflation at the lowest point on records going back to 1996, at the same rate as in March but sharply down from the 1.2 percent that Eurostat booked in February.

After hitting a record high of 4.0 percent last June and July, eurozone inflation has fallen sharply as oil and other commodity prices have collapsed in the face of a deep economic downturn.