Euro area annual inflation down slightly in Jan from Dec

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%).