Luxembourg - Eurozone inflation rose to 2.1 per cent in September, according to a flash estimate released Friday by the European Union's statistics agency, Eurostat.

That is an increase from 2 per cent in August, and remains close to the European Central Bank's annual inflation goal of just below 2 per cent.

If the rate is adjusted to exclude the more volatile components of energy, food, tobacco and alcohol, inflation rose only 0.9 per cent.

Energy prices jumped the most, by 9.5 per cent, followed by a more modest increase in food, alcohol and tobacco prices of 2.7 per cent. The cost of services and non-energy industrial goods rose slightly.

The ECB announced in June that, by year's end, it would phase out an emergency stimulus plan introduced three years ago to fire up economic growth and boost inflation in the wake of Europe's financial crisis.