18/06/2026 (Agence Europe) – Annual inflation in the euro area stood at 3.2% in May 2026, compared with 3.0% in April, according to figures published by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Wednesday 17 June. The lowest annual rates were recorded in Sweden (1.1%), Denmark and the Czech Republic (1.8% each). The highest were observed in Romania (9.7%), Bulgaria (6.3%) and Lithuania (5.1%). Inflation remained sustained in Germany (2.7%) and France (2.8%), and robust in Italy (3.2%) and Spain (3.6%). Services (+1.61 percentage points), energy (+0.98 pp), food, alcohol and tobacco (+0.36 pp), as well as non-energy industrial goods (+0.23 pp), made a positive contribution to the euro area’s annual inflation rate. (BD)