Annual inflation in the euro area was 1.8 percent in February this year, down from two percent in January, according to a report released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In February 2012, the annual inflation rate was 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, monthly inflation was 0.4 percent in February of the current year.
Meanwhile, in the European Union (EU-27) annual inflation was two percent in February, down from the 2.1 percent recorded in January. In the same month of the previous year, the annual inflation rate in the EU-27 was 2.9 percent, while monthly inflation was 0.4 percent in February this year.
In February, annual inflation in the EU-27 fell in 17 states, rose in six and remained stable in three, as compared with January of the current year. In February, the lowest annual inflation rates were observed in Greece (0.1%), Portugal (0.2%) and Latvia (0.3%), and the highest in Romania (4.8%), Estonia (4.0%) and the Netherlands (3.2%).
The lowest 12-month averages up to the end of February this year were registered in Greece (0.7 %), Sweden ( 0.9%) and Latvia (1.8%), and the highest in Hungary (5.2%), Estonia (4.1%), and Romania (3.8%).