Eurozone inflation reached a five-month peak in December, according to final figures released by Eurostat on Friday, confirming preliminary estimates. The harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 2.4% year-on-year, following a 2.2% rise in November. This marks the fastest inflation rate since the previous July, when prices advanced by 2.6%. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile categories of energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco, remained constant at 2.7% in December.
On a month-to-month basis, the HICP went up by 0.4% in December, in line with initial expectations.
Among the main elements of the HICP, services recorded the highest annual rate at 4.0%, up slightly from November's 3.9% increase.
Food, alcohol, and tobacco prices rose 2.6%, a slight adjustment from the initial 2.7% estimate. Meanwhile, energy prices saw a modest rise of 0.1%, rebounding from a 2.0% decline in November, as the data indicated.
The growth in prices for non-energy industrial goods slightly receded to 0.5%, compared to 0.6% in the previous month.
