Surprise increase in EU inflation

EUROPEAN inflation unexpectedly accelerated to the fastest in more than two years as European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers prepared to raise rates to keep price pressures from feeding into wage demands.

Inflation in the 17-nation euro region quickened in March to 2.6% from 2.4% in February, the European Union’s statistics office said in an initial estimate.

That’s the fastest since October 2008 and exceeds the ECB’s 2% limit for a fourth month. Economists forecast inflation to hold at 2.4%, the median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed.