BRUSSELS, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The inflation in the 19-country Eurozone in December hit the highest rate in over three years, official data showed Wednesday.
The inflation in the single currency bloc was expected to stand at 1.1 percent in December, said Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union (EU), marking a record high since September 2013, when the reading as well was 1.1 percent.
The rising energy price was the largest contributor as it saw a highest increase by 2.5 percent in December, compared with the fall by 1.1 percent in November, according to the agency.
The figure could be encouraging to the bloc's policy makers, who have years tried to seek an inflation target of "just below 2 percent" through stimulus measures.
However the core inflation, excluding items such as energy and food, still stood at 0.9 percent, remaining subdued compared with the reading of 0.8 percent in November and forging a concern to the market.
Economists argued that December's inflation rise reflected anticipated energy effects and would therefore not deter the European Central Bank from its commitment to sustained policy loosening.
