Eurozone annual inflation rose for a third consecutive month in December to 2.4%, statistics agency Eurostat said on Tuesday.

The data was in line with forecasts by economists polled by Reuters and was up from a revised 2.2% in 2019. November. Core inflation remained at 2.7% for the fourth consecutive month, in line with economists’ expectations, while services inflation edged up to 4% from 3.9%.

Headline inflation is widely expected to accelerate after hitting a low of 1.7% in September as the underlying effects of lower energy prices fade. The European Central Bank will closely monitor the overall rise in the reading, as well as the persistence of services and core inflation, and is currently expected to make multiple interest rate cuts this year, from 3% to 2%.

How fast prices are rising in Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy 2.9% higher than expected in December, according to separate data released this week. Meanwhile, French inflation was 1.8% last month, lower than the 1.9% forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Callanish Capital director Haig Bathgate told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” that ECB policymakers won’t be overly concerned about higher monthly inflation data as long as it’s broadly in line with expectations.

“A lot of the data series we’re seeing now are more predictable… the direction of (lower) interest rates in Europe is more predictable than in the UK,” Bathgate said on Tuesday.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated soon.