According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, the inflation rate in the eurozone saw a growth of 1.5%, a percentage higher than what was expected.
Compared to July’s rate, which was 1.3%, August’s rate saw an increase of 0.2%.
Inflation in the 19-nation bloc remains well below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) target of close to, but below, 2%.
The rise in the cost of energy by 4%, and the rise of processed food, alcohol and tobacco by 2% were the biggest factors behind inflation. Core inflation remained unaltered at 1.2%.
With the increase in the figures, ECB is considering whether to pull the reigns of the policy after 2-1/2 years of unparalleled stimulus.
Eurostat said that although with rise in the inflation rate, the unemployment rate in the eurozone remained unaltered at 9.1% in July. A thorough analysis showed that some countries performed better than others. The jobless rate in Germany, which is the prime economy in the zone, fell from 3.8% in June to 3.7% in July, while Spain’s jobless rate, the eurozone’s top, remained unchanged at 17.1%. On the contrary, the unemployment rate in France went up from 9.6% to 9.8% and Italy’s rate increased from 11.2% to 11.3%.