Inflation in the eurozone rose to the symbolically important level of two percent in June, data showed on Friday, fuelled by high oil prices. Eurostat said consumer prices in the 19-country single currency bloc edged higher from 1.9 percent in May, leaving inflation right on par with the European Central Bank's (ECB) target of near or lower than 2.0 percent.
Inflation was on level with forecasts and will confirm expectations that the ECB's masssive stimulus programme to prop up prices in the eurozone will come to a close in December. The ECB's bond buys - currently set at 30 billion euros ($35 billion) a month - and ultra-low interest rates are designed to stoke growth in the 19-nation single currency area and power inflation to the bank's now reached target. More than three years after ECB head Mario Draghi unleashed the "quantitative easing" programme, he said this month that economic data convinced policymakers they were on course to reach the inflation goal.