Eurozone inflation confirmed at three-year high

(Sharecast News) - Eurozone inflation was confirmed at a three-year high in September, according to Eurostat's final estimates released Friday, as price growth accelerated sharply on the back of surging energy prices. The annual change in the harmonised consumer price index was 3.8% last month, in line with the preliminary estimate released two weeks ago but much higher than the 3.2% rate seen in August.

This was the steepest annual rate of inflation across the single-currency bloc since September 2023. On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased by 0.6%.

Energy prices were the biggest driver, rising 18.9% year-on-year after growing by 14.3% in August, contributing 1.71 percentage points to the overall annual inflation rate.

Services inflation accelerated to 3.2% from 3.0%, contributing 1.52 percentage points, while inflation in non-energy industrial goods eased to 1.1% from 1.2%.

Food, alcohol and tobacco prices increased by 1.3% annually, compared with 1.1% in August.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, edged up to 2.5% from 2.4%, in line with the preliminary estimate.

Among the eurozone's largest economies, Germany's annual inflation rate increased to 3.3% from 2.9%, France's rose to 3.4% from 2.6%, Italy's climbed to 4.2% from 3.2%, while Spain's accelerated to 5.0% from 4.6%.