Eurozone inflation confirmed at highest since September 2023

(Sharecast News) - Eurozone inflation was confirmed at a two-and-a-half-year high in April, according to final estimates from Eurostat on Wednesday, as energy prices jumped by more than a tenth compared with last year.

The annual inflation rate for the single-currency region was 3.0% in April, in line with preliminary estimates released at the end of last month.

This was up from 2.6% in March and the highest rate of consumer price growth since September 2023.

Driving the acceleration was a 10.8% surge in the price of energy, as supply disruptions and production stoppages due to the Middle East conflict saw oil prices rise to a four-year high during April.

Excluding energy prices, inflation would have eased to 2.2% in April from 2.3% in March.

Meanwhile, food, alcohol and tobacco inflation held steady at 2.4%, while services inflation eased to 3.0% from 3.3%. However, non-energy industrial goods inflation picked up to 0.8% from 0.5%.

Across member states, the lowest annual rates were seen in France, Malta and the Netherlands (all at 2.5%), while the highest annual rates were recorded in Bulgaria (6.0%) and Croatia (5.4%).