On Monday, inflation in Germany for April inched up a bit, driven by a spike in food prices and a slight dip in energy prices compared to the earlier months.

Harmonized German consumer prices, which are used to compare to those of other EU nations, climbed by 2.4% in April after ticking up by 2.3% annually in March.

The German figures were announced before the release of pan-euro zone figures scheduled to release on Tuesday, with inflation in the zone projected to have held steady at 2.4% in April, based on a poll conducted by Reuters.

ECB has hinted that it will likely initiate interest rate by June.

A poll released on Monday by the Ifo institute indicates that a marginally higher number of German businesses than those in the earlier month plan to raise their rates.

Although headline inflation inched up slightly, core inflation which does not include volatile costs for energy and food reduced to 3.0% in April from 3.3% in March.

Energy prices for March slumped by 2.7% YoY.

Food prices advanced by 0.5% higher than its counterpart month of the earlier year.