Brussels, June 2, (dpa-AFX/GNA) – Eurozone producer price inflation accelerated sharply in April driven by higher energy prices, data from Eurostat showed on Wednesday.
Producer price inflation rose to 7.6 per cent in April from 4.3 per cent in March. This was also bigger than economists’ forecast of 7.3 per cent.
Excluding energy, producer prices rose 3.5 per cent on year, following a 2.3-per-cent increase in March. Energy prices surged 20.4 per-cent.
Among other components, intermediate goods prices grew 6.9 per cent and those of capital goods rose 1.3 per cent.
Durable and non-durable consumer goods prices gained 1.7 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.
Month-on-month, producer prices grew 1 per cent in April versus 1.1 per cent a month ago. Economists had forecast a monthly growth of 0.9 per cent.
Data released this week showed that consumer price inflation in the currency bloc climbed to 2.0 per cent in May from 1.6 per cent in April.
The European Central Bank targets inflation “below, but close to” 2 percent.
GNA