Annual inflation in the euro area was 1.6 percent in July this year, unchanged from June, according to a report released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In July 2012, the annual inflation rate was 2.4 percent. Meanwhile, monthly inflation was 0.5 percent in July of the current year.
Meanwhile, in the European Union (EU-27) annual inflation was 1.7 percent in July, also stable compared to June. In the same month of the previous year, the annual inflation rate in the EU-27 was 2.5 percent, while the monthly inflation was -0.4 percent in July this year.
In July, annual inflation in the EU-27 fell in 17 states and rose in nine, as compared with June of the current year. In July, the lowest annual inflation rates were observed in Greece (-0.5%), Bulgaria (0%) and Denmark (0.4%) and the highest in Estonia (3.9%), Romania (3.4%) and the Netherlands (3.1%).
The lowest 12-month averages up to the end of July this year were registered in Greece (0.1%), Sweden (0.7%) and Latvia (0.8%), and the highest in Romania (4.5%), Estonia (3.9%) and Croatia (3.7%).