As energy prices soared, inflation in the eurozone accelerated in September to the highest level since 2008, data from the European Union’s statistical office Eurostat showed on Friday. The annual inflation rate in the 19 countries of the euro area—including the largest EU economies Germany, France, and Italy—hit 3.4 percent in September 2021, up from 3.0 percent in August, a flash estimate from Eurostat showed. Energy prices surged by 17.4 percent in September, compared with a 15.4-percent annual jump in August. Among individual countries, inflation in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is expected to have accelerated to 4.1 percent in September from 3.4 percent in August. Surging natural gas and power prices are the main drivers of inflation in the eurozone, although the European Central Bank (ECB), the central bank for the euro, has said that it sees inflationary pressures as transitory. “The key challenge is to ensure that we […]