BRUSSELS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The eurozone annual inflation in June is expected to be at 16-month high of 2.0 percent, reflecting an increase in energy inflation, data from Eurostat showed on Friday.
The reading marks a pick-up from the 1.9 percent rate in May, leaving the inflation rate right above the European Central Bank's (ECB) target of close to but below 2 percent.
Looking at the main components of the inflation, energy has the highest annual rate in June with oil prices increasing 8 percent on the year, from 6.1 per cent in May.
"Looking ahead, we think that energy inflation will push the headline rate up again in July," said Jack Allen, Senior European Economist at Capital Economics.
"June's inflation data are unlikely to change the ECB's assessment of the outlook for monetary policy. We maintain our long-held view that the Bank will leave its interest rates unchanged until September next year before raising interest rates a little more quickly than investors expect," Allen said.
The ECB plans to halve the monthly net asset purchase to 15 billion euros (17.4 billion U.S. dollars) from October, and to end it by December.
"We will remain patient in determining the timing of the first rate rise and will take a gradual approach to adjusting policy thereafter," ECB President Mario Draghi told delegates at the ECB Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal last week.
