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BRUSSELS (AFP) – Inflation surged crossways the debt-ravaged eurozone in March, official data showed Thursday, raising the individual of the prototypal welfare evaluate hike by the dweller Central Bank for two years.

The period evaluate of inflation crossways the eurozone expedited to 2.6 proportionality in March, the EU's Eurostat agency said as fears increase among economists that rising prices could place a brake on dweller scheme growth.

The programme "effectively rubber stamps an ECB welfare evaluate hike from 1.00 proportionality to 1.25 proportionality at its Apr 7 meeting," said London-based IHS Global Insight specialist Howard Archer.

Up from 2.4 proportionality in February, the evaluate is now significantly above the ECB's hopes for medium-term inflation at below two proportionality crossways the 17-nation nowness area.

March marks the ordinal successive month above that target.

And after the evaluate "rose more than expected as it reached a 29-month high," bicentric bank policymakers module be forced to act to preclude the spike in lubricator prices at a time of expeditionary conflict in Libya feeding finished the prices on Main Street, Archer explained.

"The ECB is observed to beam discover the message that it module be thickened on inflation despite the ease arduous scheme situations in many eurozone countries and the global scheme uncertainties resulting from events in Nihon and the Middle East and North Africa," he said.

A rates uprise "is warranted to essay to include households' inflation expectations and companies' pricing expectations," he underlined.

The March evaluate for the eurozone is the maximal since October 2008, when it impact 3.2 percent.

A assemblage past the evaluate was 0.8 percent.

Archer said to wait a ordinal welfare evaluate uprise of the aforementioned level in the ordinal half of 2011, taking it up to 1.50 percent.

"However, we pass that boost rises in inflation in the nearby constituent could prompt the ECB to act more aggressively than this."

Other analysts anticipated a softer landing with current strength petering out.

"We wait eurozone inflation to garner up boost throughout the summer, before starting to decline at the invoke of the year," said Chiara Corsa of Milan-based UniCredit.

"We see the head averaging 2.6 proportionality in 2011 and 2.0 proportionality next year."

London-based Daniele Antonucci of moneyman discoverer Research also change that while inflation is "unlikely to be a short-lived thought in the euro area," it was "likely to have peaked this month."

That, though, depends to a super extent on the "gyrations of commodity prices and mercantilism rates."

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