Euro area annual inflation was 0.7% in February 2014 , down from 0.8% in January. A year earlier the rate was 1.8%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in February 2014.

The highest annual rates were recorded in Malta and Finland (both 1.6%) and Austria (1.5%). Compared with January 2014, annual inflation fell in seventeen Member States, remained stable in three and rose in seven.

European Union annual inflation was 0.8% in February 2014, down from 0.9% in January. A year earlier the rate was 2.0%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in February 2014.

In February 2014, negative annual rates were observed in Bulgaria (-2.1%), Cyprus (-1.3%), Greece (-0.9%), Croatia (-0.2%), Portugal and Slovakia (both -0.1%).

The lowest 12 month average rates up to February 2014 were registered in Greece (-1.1%), Bulgaria (-0.3%) and Cyprus (-0.2%), and the highest in Estonia (2.8%), Romania (2.6%), the Netherlands and Finland (both 2.1%).

The largest upward impacts to euro area annual inflation came from tobacco (+0.08 percentage points), restaurants & cafés and electricity (+0.06 each), while fuels for transport (-0.30), telecommunications (-0.10) and heating oil (-0.07) had the biggest downward impacts.

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

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