BRUSSELS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Eurozone annual inflation rate was 1.2 percent in April, down from 1.3 percent in March, according to the final reading released by Eurostat on Wednesday.

The inflation rate was well below the European Central Bank's (ECB) 2 percent target and the slowdown was mainly due to the incline of service inflation which dipped to 1.0 percent from 1.5 percent in the previous month.

The core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices fell by 0.3 percentage points to 0.7 percent. Analysts said the main downside surprise in the core data was the sluggish non-energy goods inflation, which goes up to 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent in March. And the headline inflation may increase sharply in coming months thanks to higher oil prices.

The highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from food, alcohol and tobacco with 0.47 percentage points, followed by services with 0.45 percentage points, energy with 0.25 percentage points and non-energy industrial goods 0.07 percentage points.

Eurostat data show the annual inflation rate in the wider 28-nation EU was 1.4 percent in April, down from 1.5 percent in March.