23/02/2023 (Agence Europe) – The euro area annual inflation rate was 8.6% in January, down from 9.2% in December, and 10.0% in the European Union, up from 10.4% the previous month, according to figures released by the EU’s statistical office (Eurostat). The lowest annual rates were observed in Luxembourg (5.8%), Spain (5.9%), Cyprus and Malta (both 6.8%), while the highest rates were recorded in Hungary (26.2%), Latvia (21.4%) and the Czech Republic (19.1%). Price inflation was 7.0% in France, 9.2% in Germany and 10.7% in Italy. Compared with December, annual inflation fell in eighteen Member States. The largest contributions to euro area inflation came from food, alcohol & tobacco (+2.94 percentage points, pp), followed by energy (+2.17 pp) and services (+1.80 pp). (MB)