Eurozone Inflation Steady at 2.7% in June

BRUSSELS, Jul. 15 -- Annual inflation in the eurozone remained at 2.7 percent in June, the European Union's (EU) statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday.

This is the seventh month that the figure stood well above the two percent ceiling preferred by the European Central Bank (ECB) in order to maintain price stability. A year earlier, the key index was 1.5 percent.

In June, energy prices in the euro zone jumped by 10.9 percent year on year, while food rose by 2.7 percent.

Across the EU, annual inflation dropped to 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent in May. A year earlier the rate was 1.9 percent.

Among the 27 EU member states, Sweden registered the lowest inflation rate of 1.5 percent, while the highest rate was seen in Romania, which was 8.0 percent.

Earlier this month, the ECB raised the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.5 percent to curb the growing price pressure in the euro area.

Analysts expected further hikes in the remaining months of this year despite the sovereign debt woes in several eurozone countries.