Eurozone inflation jumps in January

Eurozone inflation hit a near four-year high in January following an increase in energy prices.

Inflation in the 19-country bloc jumped to 1.8% last month from 1.1% the month before.

Data from Eurostat also showed that the eurozone's unemployment rate fell to 9.6% in December, the lowest rate since May 2009.

Eurozone GDP growth edged up to 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2016, up from 0.4% in the previous quarter.

Core measure

The spike in the inflation rate takes it up to the European Central Bank's target of below, but close to 2%.

Eurozone inflation rose sharply last month after energy prices jumped 8.1% in January compared with the year before.

Some have called for the European Central Bank to scale back its bond-buying programme.

However, the ECB also looks at core inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food prices, in its policy decisions, and this rate remained unchanged at 0.9% in January