Eurozone inflation hits record high

Inflation in the Eurozone spiked to a record high of 9.1% in August, the EU statistics office Eurostat confirmed an earlier reading on Friday, noting it was likely headed toward double digits.

The data showed that consumer price inflation in the 19 countries using the euro rose 0.6% month-on-month and by 9.1% year-on-year, the highest rate since the currency was created in 1999.

According to Eurostat, 3.95 percentage points of the year-on-year change came from more expensive energy and 2.25 points from food, alcohol and tobacco. If volatile energy and unprocessed food prices are excluded, prices were still 5.5% higher than a year earlier, up from 5.1% in July.

Last week, the European Central Bank, whose headline inflation target is 2%, raised its key interest rates by an unprecedented 75 basis points and promised further hikes to fight inflation as the Eurozone economy slides toward recession.