BRUSSELS, May 31, 2018 (News Wires) — Official figures show that a big jump in energy prices has pushed inflation across the 19-country eurozone back to the European Central Bank's goal in May. Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, said consumer prices were up by an annual rate of 1.9 per cent in May, way ahead of April's 1.2 per cent. The sharp rise means inflation is now at the ECB's goal of just below 2 per cent. The main reason behind the increase has been the sharp rise in oil prices. Energy prices, according to Eurostat, were up 6.1 per cent in the year to May, more than double April's 2.6 per cent. However, underlying inflation remains benign. After stripping out the volatile items of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, inflation only rose to 1.1 per cent from 0.7 per cent.
