ATHENS – The Eurozone’s annual inflation rate jumped to 8.6% in June from 8.1% in May, according to a flash estimate by Eurostat released on Friday. The EU’s statistics service, in a monthly report, said that energy grew by 41.9% in June (39.1% in May), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (8.9% from 7.5%, respectively), non-energy industrial products (4.3% from 4.2%) and services (3.4% from 3.5%). In Greece, the annual inflation rate is expected to reach 12% in June from 10.5% in May.

Estonia (22%), Lithuania (20.5%), Latvia (19%), Slovakia (12.5%) and Greece (12%) recorded the highest inflation rates in June, while Malta (6.1%), France (6.5%), Finland (8.1%) and Germany (8.2%) the lowest rates.