Euro area annual inflation was 0.9% in February 2010, down from 1.0% in January. A year earlier the rate was 1.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in February 2010.

EU annual inflation was 1.4% in February 2010, down from 1.7% in January. A year earlier the rate was 1.8%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in February 2010.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In February 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Latvia (-4.3%), Ireland (-2.4%) and Lithuania (-0.6%), and the highest in Hungary (5.6%), Romania (4.5%) and Poland (3.4%). Compared with January 2010, annual inflation fell in fifteen Member States, remained stable in five and rose in five.

The lowest 12-month averages up to February 2010 were registered in Ireland (-2.2%), Portugal (-0.9%) and Estonia (-0.6%), and the highest in Romania (5.3%), Hungary (4.6%) and Poland (4.0%).

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in February 2010 were alcohol & tobacco and transport (both 4.3%) and miscellaneous goods & services (1.8%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for food (-1.1%), communications (-0.6%) and recreation & culture (-0.3%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.52 percentage points), tobacco (+0.13) and heating oil (+0.10) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while gas (-0.31), milk, cheese & eggs and garments (-0.08 each) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (1.7%), recreation & culture (1.1%), communications and hotels & restaurants (both 0.4%), while the lowest were health and transport (both 0.0%). In particular, package holidays (+0.08 percentage points) and garments (+0.06) had the largest upward impacts, while fuels for transport (-0.04) and heating oil (-0.02) had the biggest downward impacts.