Annual inflation in the Euro area was 2.2 percent in December 2010

Annual inflation in the Euro area was 2.2 percent in December 2010, up from 1.9 percent in November. A year earlier the rate was 0.9 percent. Monthly inflation was 0.6 percent in December 2010. Annual inflation in the EU was 2.6 percent in December 2010, up from 2.3 percent in November. A year earlier the rate was 1.5 percent. Monthly inflation was 0.6 percent in December 2010.

These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. However, data were not available for either Ireland or the UK for the period analysed.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In December 2010, the lowest annual rates of inflation were observed in Slovakia (1.3 percent), the Netherlands (1.8 percent), and Germany and Cyprus (both 1.9 percent). The highest annual rate of inflation was observed in Romania (7.9 percent), Estonia (5.4 percent) and Greece (5.2 percent). Compared with November 2010, annual inflation rose in all twenty-five Member States for which data are available.

The lowest 12-month averages up to December 2010 were registered in Latvia (-1.2 percent), Slovakia (0.7 percent) and the Netherlands (0.9 percent), and the highest in Romania (6.1 percent), Greece and Hungary (both 4.7 percent).

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in December 2010 were transport (5.2 percent), housing (3.8 percent), and alcohol and tobacco (3.6 percent), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-0.7 percent) and recreation and culture (-0.1 percent).

Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.58 percentage points) and heating oil (+0.19 percentage points) had the largest upward impact on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.10 percentage points) and garments (-0.09 percentage points) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation and culture (1.9 percent), transport (1.4 percent), and hotels and restaurants (1.0 percent), while the lowest were clothing (-0.8 percent), health, communications and education (all 0.0 percent). In particular, package holidays (+0.18 percentage points) and fuels for transport (+0.15) had the largest upward impacts, while garments (-0.08) had the biggest downward impact.