High energy prices drove euro zone inflation higher than expected in September, Eurostat said today.
Consumer prices in the 12 countries using the euro rose 0.5 per cent month-on-month against expectations of an 0.4 per cent increase to give a year-on-year 2.6 per cent gain, more than the expected 2.5 per cent - the first Eurostat estimate.
"Energy, with an annual rate of 15.2 per cent is overall responsible for the upward impact on the headline inflation rate this month," the EU statistics agency said in a statement.
The European Central Bank (ECB) aims to keep inflation below but close to 2 per cent, and has recently stepped up its anti-inflationary rhetoric, saying it was ready to raise interest rates if expensive oil triggers higher wage demands.
Neither the ECB nor the euro zone's finance ministers see such second-round effects of the high oil prices yet, but the ECB's chief economist, Otmar Issing, warned on October 14th there were signs that wage restraint could be coming to an end.
Several ECB officials have said inflation could remain above the 2 per cent reference value in 2006 too, but markets do not expect the bank to raise interest rates until March next year.
In the whole EU of 25 member states, annual inflation rose to 2.5 per cent last month from 2.2 per cent in August after a 0.5 per cent monthly increase.