Euro area annual inflation was 2.1% in November 2008, down from 3.2% in October. A year earlier the rate was 3.1%. Monthly inflation was -0.5% in November 2008.

EU annual inflation was 2.8% in November 2008, down from 3.7% in October. A year earlier the rate was 3.1%. Monthly inflation was -0.4% in November 2008.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In November 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in Germany and Portugal (both 1.4%), and France and the Netherlands (both 1.9%), and the highest in Latvia (11.6%), Lithuania (9.2%) and Bulgaria (8.8%), Malta stood at 4.9%. Compared with October 2008, annual inflation fell in all Member States.

The lowest 12-month averages up to November 2008 were registered in the Netherlands (2.2%), Portugal (2.8%) and Germany (2.9%), and the highest in Latvia (15.6%), Bulgaria (12.3%) and Lithuania (11.1%), Malta stood at 4.5%.

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in November 2008 were housing (4.5%), food (3.7%) and alcohol & tobacco (3.5%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-2.1%), transport (-0.6%) and recreation & culture (0.6%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, gas (+0.27 percentage points), restaurants & cafés (+0.13) and bread & cereals (+0.12) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while fuels for transport (-0.53) and telecommunications (-0.14) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were alcohol & tobacco and clothing (both 0.4%) and household equipment (0.2%), and the lowest were transport (-2.7%), housing (-0.5%) and hotels & restaurants (-0.3%). In particular, restaurants & cafés and garments (+0.05 each) had the largest upward impacts, while fuels for transport (-0.41) and heating oil (-0.11) had the biggest downward impacts.

These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

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