Euro zone annual inflation stable at 2.3%

Euro zone annual inflation stable at 2.3%

EU statistics institution Eurostat announced that Euro zone's annual inflation rate remained unchanged at 2.3% in August. Monthly inflation was recorded as 0.2% in August. In the full 25-member states of European Union, annual inflation rate also amounted to 2.3% in both August and July. The core inflation rate, excluding prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, increased to 1.9% in the mentioned period. The institution attributed the rise in prices to increased oil rates in August that pushed up overall energy prices in the Euro zone by 1.5% over July. Member countries which marked the highest annual rates for August are; Latvia with 7.8%, Hungary with 7.2%, Slovakia with 7% and Poland with 4.9%, whereas the lowest rates were seen in Finland with 0.3%, Denmark with 0.9%, the Netherlands and Sweden with 1.2% each and the UK with 1.3%. In addition, annual inflation rate was recorded as 2.1%, 2.5% and 2.4% in Germany, France and Italy.