BRUSSELS: Eurozone inflation accelerated to 1.6 percent in June from 1.4 percent in May, Eurostat said on Monday, with one analyst saying the data underlined the fragility of Europe's recovery. Despite the speed-up, inflation for the eurozone is still far from the rate of 2.4 percent it reached in June 2012. The rise was mainly due to an increase in energy prices. The biggest rise in consumer prices was for food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, while there were also sharp increases in prices for energy, services and industrial goods. The European Central Bank aims to keep the inflation rate just below a 2.0-percent threshold in the medium term. "The latest eurozone inflation and labour market figures inject a slight note of caution after the recent improvement in some of the region's activity indicators," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics. Loynes said headline inflation would likely fall over the coming months but added that this was "a reflection of economic weakness and won't necessarily prompt cautious consumers to up their spending".

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