Inflation in the eurozone is expected to reach an average of 2% in February, up from 1.8% the month before.
The flash forecast from Eurostat noted that this was as a result of higher energy and food prices. Energy costs jumped by 9.2% and food by 5.2% in February compared with the year before.
It is the first time since January 2013 that the rate has gone above the European Central Bank’s target of “just below, but close to, 2%”.
When the ECB publishes new inflation projections next week, its president, Mario Draghi, is expected to say that the Bank believes that the rate of inflation in the eurozone will ease later this year.
Analysts believe that the ECB will keep its multi-billion euro bond purchase programme but will begin to reduce the pace from €80 billion to €60 billion a month until the end of 2017.
Meanwhile, separate figures showed that the unemployment rate in Portugal declined by 2% over the course of the year from January 2016.
By January of this year, the rate had dipped to 10.2% against an average of 9.6% across the euro area, the lowest rate reported since May 2009. Nevertheless, more than half a million people in Portugal are without jobs.
The highest rates still pertain in Greece (23%), Spain (18%), Cyprus (14%) and Italy (12%) followed by Portugal which has the fifth highest percentage.
Joblessness for Portuguese youth fared even better, although it is still disappointingly high at 25.7%. The previous January, however, it stood at 30%. As of January 2017, there were 94,000 Portuguese people under the age of 25 without paid employment.
