Brussels, 16/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The annual increase in prices in the Eurozone stood at 0.3% in September, compared to 0.4% in August, according to the definitive figures published by the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) on Thursday 16 October.
This is the lowest rate on record since October 2009. In September 2013, it stood at 1.1%.
In September 2014, annual inflation in the EU was 0.4%, compared to 0.5% in August. This is the lowest rate since September 2009. In September 2013, the rate was 1.3%.
Deflation in eight countries. Deflation was observed in eight member states in September 2014: Bulgaria (-1.4%), Greece (-1.1%), Hungary (-0.5%), Spain (-0.3%), Poland (-0.2%) and Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia (-0.1% each). In four countries (Cyprus, Lithuania, Portugal and Sweden), there was zero annual inflation over the same period.
The highest annual inflation rates were to be seen in Romania (1.8%), Finland (1.5%), Austria (1.4%) and the United Kingdom and Latvia (1.2% each).
The largest upward impacts to euro zone annual inflation came from restaurants and cafes (+0.09%), rent (+0.07%) and vehicle maintenance (+0.05%), while fuels transport (-0.21%), telecommunications (-0.12%) and gas (-0.08%) had the biggest downward impacts. (MB)