Brussels, 18/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - Essentially because of the rise in energy prices, the annual rate of inflation in the euro zone increased by 2.2% in January and 2.4% in February, according to the statistics published on Tuesday by Eurostat. For the EU as a whole, the annual inflation rate increased by 2.1% in January to 2.3% in February 2003. In February, the highest annual rates were noted in Ireland (5.1%), Greece (4.2%), and Portugal (4.1%). The lowest rates were recorded in...