A European Central Bank survey published on Monday showed that euro zone companies expect a slowdown in selling price and wage growth in the coming period, reinforcing indications that the recent rise in inflation, caused by higher energy prices, has not yet turned into a wave of secondary price effects.

Inflation is currently close to 3 percent due to rising energy costs, clearly exceeding the European Central Bank's target of 2 percent. Policymakers fear that continued price increases could entrench inflation expectations and prompt workers to demand larger wage increases, potentially fueling an inflationary spiral that would be difficult to contain, according to Reuters.

The European Central Bank said in its survey on firms' access to finance: 'On average, companies expect a more moderate increase in selling prices, non-labor input costs, and wage expectations over the next twelve months.'

More than 5,000 companies surveyed expected selling prices to rise by 3.2 percent over the next year, compared to 3.5 percent in the previous survey three months ago. They also expected non-labor input costs, including energy, to rise by 5.2 percent, down from 5.8 percent previously.

At the same time, companies' expectations for wage growth fell to 2.5 percent over the next year, compared to 2.8 percent in the previous quarter, according to ECB data that will be a key input for policymakers at their upcoming meeting to set interest rates on Thursday.

Companies' inflation expectations saw little change; inflation expectations for the next year and for three years remained stable at 3 percent, while expectations for five years rose to 3.1 percent from 3 percent in the previous survey.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged this week, but the recent rise in oil prices has boosted market bets that the deposit rate, currently at 2.25 percent, could be raised again in September.