The eurozone’s inflation rate rose to a fresh record high in January, an unwelcome surprise for policy makers at the European Central Bank who have said they don’t expect to raise their key interest rate this year.
However, ECB officials and most economists were confident that the first inflation reading of the year would show a significant drop as earlier changes in Germany’s sales tax dropped out of annual comparisons.
Instead, figures released by the European Union’s statistics agency on Wednesday showed the annual rate of inflation picked up to 5.1% on a fresh surge in energy prices. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal last week had expected to see a decline to 4.3%.
The ECB will announce its latest policy decisions Thursday, although little is expected to change ahead of its March meeting, when…
