According to the European statistics office, the year-on-year inflation rate reached a new all-time high since the creation of the euro when it rose from 4.9 percent in November to 5 percent in December.
Among the main components of eurozone inflation, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in December (26.0 percent, compared to 27.5 percent in November), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (3.2 percent, compared to 2.2 percent in November), industrial goods excluding energy (2.9 percent, compared to 2.4 percent in November) and services (2.4 percent compared to 2.7 percent in November).
On a monthly basis, inflation rose 0.8 percent in December.