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Euro area inflation has increased by 1.5% in August 2017, according to EurostatPicture credit: Mikka Luster 

In July 2017, inflation stood at 1.3%, the main statistics office of the EU noted in a press release on 31 August.

Energy is expected to have the highest annual rate (4%) in August, followed by services (1.6%), food, alcohol and tobacco (1.4%), and non-energy industrial goods (0.5%). In the euro area, consumer price inflation is measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).

The European Central Banks’s main task is to maintain price stability, which is defined as the inflation target of below, but close to 2% over the medium term, which has not been reached since the start of the economic and financial crisis.