Brussels, 18/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The annual inflation rate stood at -0.2% in April 2016, compared to 0.0% in March, in both the Eurozone and the European Union, according to data published by the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) on Wednesday 18 May.
In April, negative annual rates were observed in 17 member states: Romania (-2.6%), Bulgaria (-2.5%), Cyprus (-2.1%), Spain (-1.2%), Croatia (-0.9%), Latvia and Slovenia (-0.7% each), Luxembourg (-0.6%), Poland (-0.5%), Greece, Italy and Slovakia (-0.4% each), Denmark and Germany (-0.3%), Ireland and the Netherlands (-0.2% each) and France (-0.1%). Inflation was zero in Estonia. The highest annual inflation rates were registered in Belgium (1.5%) and in Sweden (1.0%). Compared to March, inflation was down in 13 countries, remained stable in seven and was up in eight others.
The largest upwards impacts to euro area inflation came from restaurants and cafes (+0.13%), rents (+0.08%) and tobacco (+0.05%), whilst fuels for transport (-0.54%), heating oil (-0.22%) and gas (-0.13%) had the biggest downwards impacts. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)