Eurozone Inflation Unexpectedly Rises In July

Core inflation, which strips out volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices and is a key indicator for the ECB, was unchanged at 2.9 percent (Credit: AFP)

The eurozone's annual inflation rate unexpectedly edged up in July due to rising energy costs, official data showed on Wednesday.

Consumer price increases in the single currency area reached 2.6 percent in July, up from a 2.5-percent rate in June, the EU's statistics agency said, higher than experts' forecast.