Brussels, 16/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Annual inflation in the eurozone stood at -0.2% in December 2014, down from +0.3% in November, according to the official figures released by the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, on Friday 16 January (see EUROPE 11225).
Inflation also entered negative territory in December 2014 for the EU as a whole, falling to -0.1% from +0.3% in November. Negative annual inflation was recorded in 16 member states, with prices falling the most in Greece (-2.5%), Bulgaria (-2.0%), Spain (-1.1%) and Cyprus (-1%). The highest annual inflation rates were observed in Romania (1%), Austria (0.8%) and Finland (0.6%). France and Germany both recorded very low inflation of 0.1%.
The biggest downward impact on eurozone annual inflation came from fuel for transport (-0.53%), heating oil (-0.17%) and telecoms (-0.08%), while restaurants & cafés and rents (+0.11%) and tobacco (+0.07%) had the largest upward impact.
On Thursday 22 January, the European Central Bank is due to announce special measures for implementing its job of keeping medium-term inflation at just below 2%. (MB)