Euro area annual inflation was 1.6% in August 2010, down from 1.7% in July. A year earlier the rate was -0.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in August 2010.

EU annual inflation was 2.0% in August 2010, down from 2.1% in July. A year earlier the rate was 0.6%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in August 2010.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In August 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (-1.2%), Latvia (-0.4%) and Germany (1.0%), and the highest in Romania (7.6%), Greece (5.6%) and Hungary (3.6%). Compared with July 2010, annual inflation rose in ten, remained stable in nine and fell in eight Member States. Malta stood at 3.0%.

The lowest 12-month averages up to August 2010 were registered in Ireland (-2.3%), Latvia (-2.0%), Portugal and Slovakia (both 0.3%), and the highest in Hungary and Romania (both 5.0%) and Greece (3.5%). Malta stood at 1.0%.

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in August 2010 were alcohol & tobacco and transport (both 3.3%) and housing (2.6%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-0.5%), recreation & culture (-0.1%) and clothing (0.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.31 percentage points), heating oil (+0.13) and vegetables (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while garments (-0.08) and telecommunications (-0.07) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (1.8%), recreation & culture, hotels & restaurants and miscellaneous goods & services (0.3% each), while the lowest were food (-0.2%), health (-0.1%) and transport (0.0%). In particular, garments (+0.09 percentage points) had the largest upward impact, while fruit and fuels for transport (-0.04 each) had the biggest downward impacts.

These figures came from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Permalink: Euro area annual inflation down to 1.6% & EU to 2.0%