Eurozone Inflation Rose 0.6% in April

European Union statistics office Eurostat said inflation in the eurozone accelerated in April due to a sharp increase in energy and service costs.

Eurostat said that consumer prices in 19 countries that deal in the euro rose 0.6% on a monthly basis, and recorded an annual increase of 1.6%, up from 1.3% annually in March.

The European Central Bank wants inflation to approach 2% in the medium term, but warned that the faster pace of rise is mainly due to the effect of a comparison with very low energy prices a year ago.

Energy prices such as oil and gas rose 10.4% year-on-year in April, adding 0.96 percentage points to the final inflation figure. On the other hand, the cost of unprocessed food, another highly volatile component, fell 0.3% year-on-year.