17/09/2021 (Agence Europe) – According to figures released by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Friday 17 September, the euro area annual inflation rate was 3.0% in August 2021, up from 2.2% in July. European Union annual inflation was 3.2% in August, up from 2.5% in July. The lowest annual rates were registered in Malta (0.4%), Greece (1.2%) and Portugal (1.3%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia, Lithuania and Poland (all 5.0%). Price inflation was strong in Germany (3.4%) and Spain (3.3%), and sustained in Italy (2.5%) and France (2.4%). Compared with July, annual inflation remained stable in one Member State and rose in twenty-six. In August, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+1.44 percentage points, pp). (MB)