23/02/2024 (Agence Europe) – The annual inflation rate in the euro area stood at 2.8% in January, compared with 2.9% in December 2023, according to figures published by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Thursday 22 February. The lowest annual rates were observed in Denmark, Italy (0.9% each), Latvia, Lithuania and Finland (1.1% each). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (7.3%), Estonia (5.0%) and Croatia (4.8%). Prices rose by 3.1% in Germany, 3.4% in France and 3.5% in Spain. In January, the biggest contributions to the inflation rate came from services (+1.73 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+1.13 pp), industrial goods excluding energy (+0.53 pp) and energy (-0.62 pp). (MB)