Eurozone inflation accelerates

EU statistics office Eurostat said on Friday that inflation in the euro area jumped 8.6% in June on an annual basis as the cost-of-living crisis deepened. The rate was up from 8.1% recorded in May, and was higher than expected by economists.

The increase was primarily driven by energy and food prices. Eurostat’s preliminary data suggests that energy will have the highest annual rate in June (41.9%, up from 39.1% in May), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (8.9%, up from 7.5%), non-energy industrial goods (4.3%, up from 4.2%), and services (3.4%, down from 3.5% in May).

Inflation has been rising steadily in the Eurozone for more than a year, and is currently four times larger than the target set by the European Central Bank (ECB). The regulator, which has vowed to tackle the surge in prices, is due to meet in late July to start raising interest rates.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said earlier this week that if the inflation outlook does not improve, “we will have sufficient information to move faster.”

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