Eurozone inflation at six-month high in January, final estimates confirm

(Sharecast News) - The final reading of the eurozone's consumer price index confirmed that inflation had risen to a six-month high in January, according to figures from Eurostat on Monday. The annual growth rate in the CPI for the single-currency region picked up to 2.5% last month, up from 2.4% in December and in line with the preliminary estimate released two weeks ago.

This was the fourth straight acceleration in year-on-year inflation since it hit a three-year low of 1.7% in September, and was the highest reading since July.

Compared with December, the annual inflation rate fell in eight eurozone member states, remained stable in four and rose in 15, Eurostat said.

Ireland, Italy and Finland all registered the lowest rates of inflation during the month at 1.7%, while the highest cost pressures were experienced in Belgium (4.4%) and Croatia (5.0%).

Core inflation, which strips out volatile items like food, energy, alcohol and tobacco, remained steady at 2.7% for the fifth straight month.