Euro zone inflation is spreading less broadly than it did in 2022, Portuguese central bank chief Álvaro Santos Pereira said, while warning that policymakers are monitoring whether price pressures widen in the coming months. Pereira, who sits on the ECB’s Governing Council, said the recent surge in natural gas prices was a key risk. He also identified the AI boom and its effects on global growth and inflation as another shock facing central bankers. The ECB raised euro zone interest rates last week for the second time this year, while financial markets are pricing at least three further increases over the next 12 months.