Eurozone inflation down to 2.5%

Euro area annual inflation was 2.5 per cent in July, down from 2.7 per cent in June, according to Eurostat. A year earlier the rate was 1.7 per cent. Monthly inflation was -0.6 per cent in July 2011.

EU annual inflation was 2.9 per cent in July, down from 3.1 per cent in June. A year earlier the rate was 2.1 per cent. Monthly inflation was -0.5 per cent in July 2011.

In July, the lowest annual rates were in Ireland (one per cent), Slovenia (1.1 per cent) and Sweden (1.6 per cent), and the highest in Estonia (5.3 per cent), Romania (4.9 per cent) and Lithuania (4.6 per cent). Compared to June, annual inflation fell in 16 member states, remained stable in two and rose in nine. Malta’s inflation rate was 2.2 per cent.

The lowest 12 month averages up to July were in Ireland (0.3 per cent), Sweden (1.6 per cent), and the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (1.9 per cent), and the highest in Romania (7.6 per cent), Estonia (4.9 per cent) and Greece (4.3 per cent).