The inflation in the 19-country eurozone fell into negative territory again in April, official data showed on Friday, bringing into question the effectiveness of the enormous stimulus program the European Central Bank is currently implementing.

The annual inflation rate was expected to be minus 0.2 percent in April, down from 0.0 percent in March, said Eurostat, the statistic agency of the European Union.

April's decline was partly due to an expected fall in energy inflation as well as weakened food inflation, but economists cautioned that the core rate, excluding food and energy, fell from 1.0 percent to 0.8 percent in April.

The eurozone's inflation has dipped back into the red since January, which was far away from the targeted around 2 percent inflation goal set by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The European Central Bank's chief economist has signaled that the central bank would only send interest rates further into negative territory should the inflation outlook worsen significantly.

The ECB announced in December 2015 that it would extend an asset purchasing program for three months and cut a key interest rate to a record low level, but the move was called "disappointing" as more policy action was needed to promote the sluggish economy.

In January 2015, the ECB announced a massive trillion-euro asset purchases program, dubbed as quantitative easing, and since March 2015 has been buying an average of 60 billion euros of assets every month, aiming to shore up the zone's economy and hit the inflation target. Endit

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