(MENAFN- AFP) German inflation shot up in April to reach the European Central Bank's target, preliminary data showed Thursday, giving impetus to growing calls for monetary policy makers to end their expansionary policy.
Consumer prices in Europe's biggest economy rose 2.0 percent in April from the same month last year, according to figures from federal statistics authority Destatis, beating analysts' forecasts of 1.9 percent.
April's inflation figure was 0.4 percentage points up from March's reading.
The latest German data came just minutes after ECB governors decided to keep key interest rates at historic lows and mass bond-buying unchanged.
The central bank is targeting an inflation rate of close to, but below, 2.0 percent.
Calls from German economists and politicians for the ECB to end its massive stimulus programme have grown louder after inflation leapt past that target in February, when price growth came in at 2.2 percent.
Policymakers are however anxious not to upset financial markets ahead of a presidential election in eurozone heavyweight France, with far-right anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen taking part in the run-off vote.
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