LONDON (Reuters) - Inflationary pressures are rising in the euro zone, suggesting the European Central Bank's trillion-euro bond buying programme is having the desired effect, an indicator designed to predict cyclical trends showed on Friday.
The Eurozone Future Inflation Gauge (EZFIG), a measure of the outlook for inflation published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute, rose to 99.7 in April from March's 99.1.
"The EZFIG inched up once more, reaching a 46-month high in April. Thus, euro zone inflation will likely rise further in the months ahead," said Lakshman Achuthan, ECRI's chief operations officer.
Inflation returned to the bloc last month with a higher than expected 0.3 percent increase in consumer prices after five months of falls and stagnation, official data showed on Tuesday.