Malta with second lowest inflation rate in EU

Euro area annual inflation was 2.7% in December 2011, down from 3.0% in November. A year earlier the rate was 2.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in December 2011.

EU annual inflation was 3.0% in December 2011, down from 3.4% in November. A year earlier the rate was 2.7%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in December 2011.

These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In December 2011, the lowest annual rates were observed in Sweden (0.4%), Malta (1.3%) and Bulgaria (2.0%), and the highest in Slovakia (4.6%), Poland (4.5%) and Cyprus (4.2%). Compared with November 2011, annual inflation fell in twenty-one Member States, remained stable in two and rose in two.

The lowest 12-month averages up to December 2011 were registered in Sweden (1.4%), Slovenia and the Czech Republic (both 2.1%), and the highest in Romania (5.8%), Estonia (5.1%) and Latvia (4.2%).

The main components with the highest annual rates in December 2011 were housing (4.9%), transport (4.3%) and alcohol & tobacco (3.8%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.9%), recreation & culture (0.6%) and education (0.9%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport ( 0.3 percentage points), heating oil ( 0.15), gas and electricity ( 0.12 each) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.15) and vegetables (-0.12) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation & culture (2.0%) and hotels & restaurants (1.0%), while the lowest monthly rate was observed for clothing (-1.3%). In particular, package holidays ( 0.18 percentage points) and accommodation services ( 0.07) had the largest upward impacts, while garments (-0.10) had the biggest downward impact.