Brussels, 14/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Annual inflation shot up in the eurozone in September from 2.5% in August to 3%, far outstripping expectations. Analysts had been betting on a 2.5% rise. This is the tenth time in a row that inflation has overshot the 2% level desired by the European Central Bank (ECB), which will further complicate its work in the midst of the economic downturn. The ECB has already raised euro interest rates twice this year, to 1.5% at present, and may well have to raise them again to counter galloping inflation, although many analysts think it might decide to backtrack in November or December in the face of the severe financial and economic crisis.
The upper trend is also to be found in the EU27, where annual inflation stood at 3.3% in September, up from 2.9% in August. The EU's statistical office points out that in September 2011, the lowest annual rates of inflation were in Ireland (1.3%), Sweden (1.5%) and the Czech Republic (2.1%), the highest in Estonia (5.4%) and Lithuania (4.7%). Compared with August 2011, annual inflation fell in seven member states, remained unchanged in five and rose in fourteen.
In September 2010, annual inflation stood at 1.9% in the eurozone and 2.3% in the EU27. (OL/transl.fl)