There are fears rising fuel costs could cause a spurt in other costs

Consumer prices in the 12 countries using the common currency rose by 0.5% month-on-month.

But the European Central Bank (ECB) may not raise interest rates as inflation excluding energy remained subdued.

When energy and unprocessed food costs are stripped out, month-on-month growth was 0.3% and annual price growth 1.5%.

'Upward impact'

There have been concerns that the higher energy costs could eventually create a knock-on effect on other prices and wages, causing a spurt in inflation.

"Energy, with an annual rate of 15.2% is overall responsible for the upward impact on the headline inflation rate this month," the EU statistics agency Eurostat said in a statement.

ECB chief economist Otmar Issing has said the bank would use the interest rates-tool if medium term inflation became more heated.

The ECB aims to keep inflation below but close to 2.0%.

In the UK on Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said inflation rose at a lower than expected rate in September, despite fears there over surging petrol prices.

The UK's consumer price inflation (CPI) rose to 2.5%, from 2.4% in August.