According to figures published by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Tuesday 23 February (see EUROPE 12650/29), the annual inflation rate in the euro area was 0.9% in January 2021, compared to -0.3% in December.
The rate for the European Union was 1.2%, compared to 0.3% in December.
The lowest annual rates were noted in Greece (-2.4%), Slovenia (-0.9%) and Cyprus (-0.8%). The highest rates were recorded in Poland (3.6%), Hungary (2.9%) and the Czech Republic (2.2%). Inflation is low in Spain (0.4%), moderate in Italy (0.7%) and France (0.8%) and higher in Germany (1.6%) after the German VAT reduction ended automatically.
Compared to December, annual inflation fell in three Member States, remained stable in six and rose in eighteen.
In January, the biggest contributions to the annual inflation rate in the euro area came from services (+0.65 percentage points, pp), followed by non-energy industrial goods (+0.37 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.30 pp) and energy (-0.41 pp). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)