Brussels, 25/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - The annual inflation rate in the eurozone stood at 0.3% in January (0.2% in December 2015), or slightly lower than was anticipated at the end of January, according to data published by the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) on Thursday 25 February (see EUROPE 11479).
At EU level, the inflation rate was 0.2% in January, unchanged from December.
In January 2016, negative annual rates were observed in ten member states: Poland (-1.7%), Romania (-1.5%), Cyprus (-1.1%), Slovenia (-0.8%), Slovakia (-0.6%), Spain (-0.4%) Bulgaria and Latvia (-0.3%), Croatia (-0.2%), Greece (-0.1%). Inflation was zero in Ireland and Finland and low in France (0.3%), Italy and Germany (0.4% each). It was highest in Belgium (1.8%), Austria (1.4%) and Sweden (1.3%). Compared to December 2015, annual inflation was down in 12 member states, stable in two and up in 14 others.
The largest upward impacts to the inflation rate came from restaurants and cafes (+0.1%), tobacco and fruit (+0.06% each), while fuels for transport (-0.28%), heating oil (-0.18%) and gas (-0.11%) had the biggest downward impacts. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)