Eurozone inflation rises to 4 pct in October: Eurostat

A woman runs past the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on December 18, 2025. (Photo: AFP)

Annual inflation in the eurozone rose to 4.0 percent in October, up from 3.8 percent in September, according to a flash estimate released Wednesday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Energy prices remained the main driver of inflation, rising 20.8 percent year-on-year in October, compared with 18.9 percent in September.

Services inflation edged up to 3.3 percent from 3.2 percent in September, while inflation for food, alcohol and tobacco increased to 1.6 percent from 1.3 percent. Inflation for non-energy industrial goods rose slightly to 1.2 percent from 1.1 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, remained unchanged at 2.5 percent.

Among the eurozone's major economies, inflation fell in Germany to 2.8 percent in October from 3.3 percent in September, while in Spain, it edged down to 4.9 percent from 5.0 percent. By contrast, inflation rose in France to 3.8 percent from 3.4 percent and in Italy to 5.6 percent from 4.2 percent.

Lithuania recorded the highest annual inflation rate among the 21 eurozone countries at 6.1 percent, followed by Bulgaria at 6.0 percent. Malta registered the lowest rate at 2.3 percent.

Eurozone inflation has remained above the 2 percent medium-term target of the European Central Bank (ECB) for eight consecutive months.

The ECB's latest Survey of Professional Forecasters, released on Oct. 30, showed that forecasters had revised up their inflation expectations for 2027 by 0.4 percentage points to 2.6 percent, mainly reflecting higher energy prices and their indirect effects.