Eurozone inflation remains high at 4% in July

Annual inflation in the eurozone remained at a record high of 4 percent in July, unchanged from that in June, the European Union (EU) statistics bureau Eurostat said on Thursday.
The figure was revised down from an earlier estimate of 4.1 percent. It was the highest level since measurements began in 1997and stayed well above the 2 percent ceiling preferred by the European Central Bank (ECB) to maintain price stability.
A year earlier the rate was 1.8 percent.
Pushed by surging oil and food prices, inflation in the euro zone has been rising in recent months.
Figures showed energy prices rose by 17.1 percent on a yearly basis in July, while food prices registered an annual growth of 6.7 percent.
Fuels for transport, heating oil and milk, cheese and eggs again had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while garments, telecommunications and cars had the biggest downward impacts.
In order to contain inflation, the Frankfurt-based ECB raised its benchmark interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point early July to 4.25 percent, after keeping it unchanged for a year in face of a slowing economy.
In the 27-nation EU, annual inflation also rose to 4.4 percent in July, up from 4.3 percent in June. It was 2.0 percent a year ago.
Among the 27 member states, the lowest annual rate was observed in the Netherlands, which was 3.0 percent. Latvia again registered the highest rate of 16.5 percent.
Source:Xinhua