Eurozone inflation accelerated further in May on surging energy and food prices, flash data from Eurostat showed on Tuesday.
Inflation rose to a fresh record 8.1 percent in May from 7.4 percent in April. The rate was forecast to climb to 7.7 percent.
Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, increased to 3.8 percent from 3.5 percent in the previous month. Economists had forecast the rate to remain unchanged at 3.5 percent.
On a monthly basis, the harmonized index of consumer prices moved up 0.8 percent in May.
Among components, the annual growth in food, alcohol and tobacco prices rose to 7.5 percent from 6.3 percent. Energy prices surged 39.2 percent after climbing 37.5 percent.
Non-energy industrial goods prices grew 4.2 percent, faster than the 3.8 percent rise in April. Similarly, services cost rose 3.5 percent, following April's 3.3 percent increase.
