Official figures show that the annual rate of inflation in the euro zone jumped to 3% this month. The news came days before outgoing European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet chairs his last meeting on interest rates. The preliminary September figure was a dramatic rise from 2.5% in August, and well above the ECB's target of below but close to 2%. It could dash what had been growing expectations of a possible ECB interest rate cut next week to support the weakening European economy. An increase was expected after major economy Germany announced a spike to 2.8% but the figure was still a surprise just two weeks after the European Commission said inflation "seems to have peaked in the second quarter of 2011." Inflation in the non-euro area is also running high. In Britain, the Bank of England has forecast that inflation will hit 5% this year. Separate figures from Eurostat showed that euro zone unemployment for August was unchanged from July at 10%.