Eurozone inflation rose to 2.9 per cent in December, reversing six months of consecutive falls and raising questions over how soon the European Central Bank would start cutting interest rates. The annual rise of consumer prices in the 20 countries that share the euro in December was up from a more than two-year low of 2.4 per cent the previous month, but was slightly lower than the 3 per cent rate forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. …But most economists believe eurozone inflation will soon start to fall again. December’s pick-up in price pressures was “just a blip”, said Capital Economics’ Jack Allen-Reynolds, forecasting it would “be reversed in January due to further declines in food and core inflation”. …Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices to give a better picture of underlying price pressures, slowed from 3.6 per cent in November to 3.4 per cent in December.