While annual inflation in the euro area accelerated from 1.9% in June to 2.2% in July, in Estonia inflation sped from 3.7% to 4.9% and was also the fastest in the euro area, data from Eurostat showed.
European Union annual inflation was 2.5% in July, up from 2.2% in June. A year earlier, the rate was 0.4% in the euro area and 0.9% in the EU, according to Eurostat.
The lowest annual rates were registered in Malta (0.3%), Greece (0.7%) and Italy (1%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (4.9%) and Poland and Hungary (4.7% in both). Compared with June, annual inflation fell in nine member states, remained stable in two and rose in 16.
In July, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (1.34%), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (0.35%), services (0.31%) and non-energy industrial goods (0.17%).
On July 8, the governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB) published a new monetary policy strategy, which sets, among other things, a symmetric inflation target of 2%. The new strategy has been implemented since the ECB governing council’s regular monetary policy meeting on July 22. (ERR/Business World Magazine)