22/03/2024 (Agence Europe) – Annual inflation in the euro area stood at 2.6% in February, compared with 2.8% in January, according to final figures published by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Monday 18 March. In the EU, it was 2.8%, compared with 3.1% in January. The lowest annual rates were observed in Latvia, Denmark (0.6% each) and Italy (0.8%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (7.1%), Estonia (4.8%) and Croatia (4.4%). Prices rose by 2.7% in Germany, 2.9% in Spain and 3.2% in France. In February, the biggest contributions to the euro area’s annual inflation rate came from services (+1.73 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.79 pp), industrial goods excluding energy (+0.42 pp) and energy (-0.36 pp). (MB)