Eurozone inflation rises to 2.5% in May

It was the second straight month that inflation has stayed above the European Central Bank's target, close to, but below 2 percent.

The core inflation rate, excluding volatile items such as energy, food and tobacco, was 1.8 percent for a fourth straight month.

Eurostat said that rising fuel costs had the largest impact on inflation last month, followed by tobacco and heating oil. Energy prices rose 6.7 percent on the year in May, after a 2 percent increase in April.