Eurozone Inflation At 2.1% In February

Eurozone inflation reached 2.1% in February on a 12-month basis, up from 1.9% the previous month according to data released March 15 by the EU statistics service Eurostat. The figure exceeded the European Central Bank's medium-term target of close to but below 2.0%. For the full 25-member European Union, inflation reached 2.2% in February, compared with 2.0% in January. The rise was fuelled by higher oil prices; within the eurozone energy costs shot up by 7.7% on the year and were 1.4% higher on a one-month basis. Prices excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco -- its favored measure of core inflation -- were up 1.6% on a 12-month basis in February, compared with a January rate of 1.7%.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005