2018.06.2908:50:00UTC+00Eurozone Inflation Climbs To 2% On Oil Prices

Eurozone inflation exceeded the central bank's target in June on oil prices, flash data from Eurostat showed Friday.

Inflation rose to 2 percent in June, in line with expectations, from 1.9 percent in May.

The European Central Bank targets 'below, but close to 2 percent' inflation. The 2 percent inflation was last reached in February 2017.

Meanwhile, core inflation, excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, eased slightly to 1 percent from 1.1 percent in May. The core rate also came in line with expectations.

Eurostat is set to release final data on July 18.

June's inflation data are unlikely to change the ECB's assessment of the outlook for monetary policy, Jack Allen, an economist at Capital Economics, said.

The economist expects the ECB to leave its interest rates unchanged until September next year before raising interest rates a little more quickly than investors expect.

Eurostat data showed that food, alcohol and tobacco prices rose at a faster of 2.8 percent after climbing 2.5 percent. Likewise, the increase in energy prices climbed to 8 percent from 6.1 percent.

At the same time, non-energy industrial goods prices grew 0.4 percent and services cost climbed 1.3 percent.

Among major Eurozone economies, only Germany logged a slowdown in EU harmonized inflation. The country's inflation rate eased slightly to 2.1 percent in June from 2.2 percent a month ago.

Meanwhile, France's inflation climbed to 2.4 percent in June from 2.3 percent a month ago. Likewise, Spain's inflation accelerated to 2.3 percent from 2.1 percent and Italy's rate quickened to 1.5 percent from 1.0 percent.