Annual inflation in the euro area was 2.0 percent in January this year, down from 2.2 percent in December 2012, according to a report released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In January 2012, the annual inflation rate was 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, monthly inflation was -0.1 percent in January of the current year.
Meanwhile, in the
European Union (EU-27) annual inflation was 2.1 percent in January, down from 2.3 percent recorded in December. In the same month of the previous year, the annual inflation rate in the EU-27 was 2.9 percent, while monthly inflation was -0.8 percent in January this year.
In January, annual inflation in the EU-27 fell in 23 states, rose in three and remained stable in one, compared with December 2012. In January, the lowest annual inflation rates were observed in
Greece (0.0%),
Portugal (0.4%) and
Latvia (0.6%), and the highest in
Romania (5.1%),
Estonia (3.7%) and the
Netherlands (3.2%).
The lowest 12-month averages up to the end of January this year were registered in
Greece and
Sweden (both 0.9%) and
Ireland (1.9%), and the highest in
Hungary (5.4%),
Estonia (4.1%), and
Romania and
Slovakia (both 3.6%).