Eurozone Inflation Accelerates As Expected

(RTTNews) - Eurozone inflation accelerated in April, driven by higher energy prices, flash estimate from Eurostat showed Thursday.

Annual inflation rose to 3.0 percent in April from 2.6 percent in March, matching economists' expectations.

Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, softened to 2.2 percent in April from 2.3 percent in March.

Among main components of HICP, energy registered the biggest annual growth of 10.9 percent. This was followed by the 3.0 percent rise in services costs. Food, alcohol and tobacco prices rose 2.5 percent and non-energy industrial goods prices gained 0.8 percent.s

On a monthly basis, the harmonized index of consumer prices climbed 1.0 percent in April.

Eurostat is slated to issue the complete data release for April on May 20.