Euro area inflation rate drops to 2.5 percent

[News_Editor]

Euro area inflation rate drops to 2.5 percent

2011-08-18 01:04:07 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The euro area's annual inflation decreased to 2.5 percent in July, compared to the previous month's 2.7 percent, the European Union (EU) announced on Wednesday.

July's inflation rate, however, is up by 0.8 percent compared to July 2010's 1.7 percent, according to a report issued by the EU's statistical office, Eurostat.

In the wider EU region, July's monthly inflation rate was -0.5 percent, while its annual inflation also dropped compared to the previous month. Eurostat said it recorded an annual inflation rate of 2.9 percent, compared to June's 3.1 percent rate. In July 2010, the rate was 2.1 percent.

The lowest annual rates observed in July were in Ireland (1 percent), Slovenia (1.1 percent) and Sweden (1.6 percent), and the highest in Estonia (5.3 percent), Romania (4.9 percent) and Lithuania (4.6 percent).

Compared with June, annual inflation fell in sixteen Member States, remained stable in two and rose in nine.

The lowest 12-month averages up to July were registered in Ireland (0.3 percent), Sweden (1.6 percent), the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (1.9 percent each), and the highest in Romania (7.6 percent), Estonia (4.9 percent) and Greece (4.3 percent).

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