Eurozone inflation accelerated to 2.9% in July from 2.8% in June, while Romania recorded the highest annual rate in the European Union at 8.2%, data from Eurostat showed on Wednesday.
A year earlier, annual inflation stood at 2% in the eurozone and 2.4% across the wider EU, as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices.
Among EU members in Southeast Europe, Bulgaria recorded annual inflation of 4.4%, followed by Croatia at 3.6%, Slovenia at 3% and Greece at 2.7%.
Romania’s 8.2% rate was the highest in the bloc, followed by Lithuania at 5.4%. Cyprus and Bulgaria both recorded inflation of 4.4%.
The lowest annual rates were registered in Sweden at 0.3%, the Czech Republic at 1.3%, and Denmark and Hungary at 1.6% each.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices declined by 1.4% in Greece and 0.3% in Slovenia. Prices increased by 0.6% in Bulgaria and Croatia and by 0.4% in Romania.
Services, energy, non-energy industrial goods, and food, alcohol and tobacco all contributed positively to the eurozone’s annual inflation rate.
Compared with June, annual inflation declined in 15 EU member states, remained unchanged in three and increased in nine.