In June, Eurozone core inflation accelerated, according to new data released by the statistics agency Eurostat last week.

The data revealed that core consumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy prices, in the 20 nations which use the euro, rose 5.5% year over year, beating the preliminary estimate of 5.4% and May’s reading of 5.3%.

In a poll of economists by Bloomberg, it was predicted that underlying inflation would exceed the overall figure all through 2024.

Bloomberg’s senior economist, Maeva Cousin said, “We expect sticky core inflation through summer will dominate the debate and push the ECB to deliver a last hike in September, to a terminal rate of 4%. The small upward revision to the core reading to 5.5% illustrates this tension.”

Economists expect the European Central Bank (ECB) will hike rates further following a stubbornly high reading in June, despite headline inflation in the Eurozone being halved from its peak of 10.6% in October of 2022.

Next week the ECB is scheduled to meet  for a new rate adjustment. The central bank raised interest rates to the highest levels seen in 22 years at their last meeting on June 15th. In a ninth consecutive increase, the central bank raised its benchmark rate by 0.25% to 4%.