Eurozone inflation jumps to 3.0%

Eurozone inflation jumped to 3.0 percent in September, well above the threshold favoured by the European Central Bank for price stability, official figures showed on Friday. The September figure was an increase from 2.5 percent in August, the Eurostat data agency said, confirming a previous estimate of the annual rate of price rises across the 17-nation monetary union. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast stable inflation at 2.5 percent. The ECB's target for price stability is below or close to 2.0 percent. The central bank decided to maintain its main interest rate at 1.5 percent last week despite fears of a new eurozone-wide recession and rising inflation. Inflation also rose in the wider, 27-nation European Union to 3.3 percent in September compared to 2.9 percent a month earlier.