Annual inflation in the euro area was 1.3 percent in August this year, down from 1.6 percent recorded in July, according to a report released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In August 2012, the annual inflation rate was 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, monthly inflation was 0.1 percent in August of the current year.
Meanwhile, in the European Union (EU-28) annual inflation was 1.5 percent in August, also down from 1.7 percent recorded in July. In the same month of the previous year, the annual inflation rate in the EU-27 was 2.7 percent, while the monthly inflation was 0.1 percent in August this year.
In August, annual inflation in the EU-28 fell in 24 states, remained stable in three, and increased in one state as compared with July of the current year. In August, the lowest annual inflation rates were observed in Greece (-1.0%), Bulgaria (-0.7%) and Latvia (-0.1%), and the highest in Estonia (3.6%), the Netherlands (2.8%) and Romania (2.6%).
The lowest 12-month averages up to the end of July this year were registered in Greece (-0.1%), Latvia and Sweden (both with 0.7%) and the highest in Romania (4.4%), Estonia (3.8%) and Croatia (3.5%).