Eurozone inflation surges to three-year high

Eurozone inflation accelerated sharply in September to its highest in three years, driven by another surge in energy prices, according to preliminary figures from Eurostat.

The year-on-year change in the harmonised consumer price index for the single-currency region rose to 3.8% from 3.2% in August, while prices increased 0.6% on the month.

That was the highest annual inflation rate since September 2023 and comfortably ahead of the 3.6% expected by economists.

Energy prices jumped 18.8% compared with last year, up from 14.3% growth a month earlier, with prices rose 3.9% month over month.

Services inflation also picked up, to 3.2% from 3.0%, while food, alcohol and tobacco inflation increased to 1.4% from 1.1%. Inflation in non-energy industrial goods eased slightly to 1.1% from 1.2%.

Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose to 2.5% from 2.4%, with prices up 0.2% on the month.

Among eurozone members, Lithuania recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 6.1%, followed by Bulgaria at 5.6% and Cyprus and Luxembourg, both at 5.2%. The lowest rates were in Malta, at 2.4%, Finland, at 2.6%, and Latvia, at 2.9%.

Meanwhile, Germany's inflation rate rose to 3.3% from 2.9%, while inflation in France increased to 3.4% from 2.6%. Spain's rate climbed to 5.0% from 4.6%, while Italy's jumped to 4.1% from 3.2%.