The annual inflation rose sharply in the 16-nation eurozone to 1.4 per cent in March, amid rising oil prices, according to official figures released yesterday.
The rate was toned down slightly by the EU's Eurostat agency from the flash estimate of 1.5 per cent announced last month, but still showed a significant rise on the 0.9 per cent inflation recorded in February.
That February rate was the lowest for almost 10 years.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected inflation to hit a more modest 1.2 per cent in March.
It is the highest eurozone inflation rate since December 2008 and moved the figures closer to the European Central Bank's target of close to but below two per cent.
For the 27-nation EU as a whole inflation rose to 1.9 per cent in March, also well up from 1.5 per cent in February.
Eurozone inflation has risen, almost continuously, since standing at 0.5 per cent last November, as the bloc emerges from the worst recession since the 1930s.
Before that there were months of negative inflation.
The inflation hike was "very much the consequence of markedly higher energy prices," which have now risen 7.2 per cent year-on-year, said Howard Archer, chief economist with London-based IHS Global Insight.
In addition, there was some limited upward impact from food prices, in part influenced by the unusually poor weather at the start of the year.
The underlying inflationary pressures "should continue to be held down by large output gaps across the region following deep recession, likely gradual recovery, muted capacity utilization, and wage moderation amid high and still rising unemployment," Mr Archer opined.
Some of those problems were amply illustrated in inflation differences between the various member states.
In the negative camp were Lithuania, which saw a 0.4 per cent drop in prices, Ireland where the negative inflation rate was 2.4 per cent, both topped, or trailed, by a four per cent price drop in Latvia.
However, annual inflation in Hungary in March was put at 5.7 per cent by the EU's official statisticians.
Below that came Romania, at 4.2 per cent followed by debt-laden Greece, which is at the centre of eurozone and IMF bailout efforts, where March inflation stood at 3.9 per cent.
Clemente De Lucia, economist at BNP-Paribas noted that the relatively early arrival of Easter would have pushed up price components like leisure, hotels and restaurants in March.
"Therefore, this increase should be only temporary. We expect core inflation to resume trending downwards as soon as next months," he said.
He added that a trimmed down inflation measure, excluding the biggest and smallest increases each month, would confirm that core inflation is on a downward trend
"Under these conditions, headline inflation is forecast to remain well below the ECB's two per cent inflation ceiling target both this year and next," leadfing BNP-Paribas to expect the European Central Bank to maintain its main interest rate at one per cent "well into 2011".