Year-on-year the biggest price drops were recorded in the group transport (4.8%), as fuel prices dropped 12.5% in this period, accounting for 0.9 percentage points of the annual deflation rate.

Food and beverage prices were down 1.3% as prices dropped across all goods categories, reducing average prices by a combined 0.2 percentage points.

The overall index was propped up by a 10% rise in holiday packages, which contributed 0.3 percentage points to inflation, and a 4% rise in alcohol and tobacco prices, which accounted for 0.2 percentage points.

At the monthly level the biggest contributors to deflation were clothing and footwear (1 percentage point) and oil derivatives (0.5 points).

Measured with the harmonized index of consumer prices, an EU gauge, prices dropped 0.7% over the year before, a significant change on the 0.9% increase in the month before.

IMAD, the government's macroeconomic forecaster, attributes the deflationary trend, which most eurozone countries face, to lower oil prices on world markets but also weaker domestic demand and sluggish economic activity.

"Price movements are expected to remain at similarly low levels in the coming months," it said in a press release.