Inflation in the EU Member States
In September 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in the Netherlands (2.8%), Germany (3.0%), Ireland and Portugal (both 3.2%), and the highest in Latvia (14.7%), Bulgaria (11.4%) and Lithuania (11.3%). Compared with August 2008, annual inflation fell in seventeen Member States, remained stable in two and rose in eight.
The lowest 12-month averages4 up to September 2008 were registered in the Netherlands (2.1%), Portugal (2.9%) and Germany (3.1%), and the highest in Latvia (15.8%), Bulgaria (12.6%), Estonia and Lithuania (both 10.8%).
Euro area
The main components with the highest annual rates in September 2008 were housing (6.2%), transport (5.8%) and food (5.7%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-2.6%), recreation & culture (0.1%) and clothing (0.7%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.44 percentage points), heating oil (+0.24), gas (+0.20) and milk, cheese & eggs (+0.15) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.20) and garments (-0.15) had the biggest downward impacts.
The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (6.5%), education (0.8%) and household equipment (0.5%), and the lowest were recreation & culture and hotels & restaurants (both -1.1%) and transport (-0.6%). In particular, garments (+0.32 percentage points) and footwear (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts, while accommodation services (-0.14), package holidays (-0.12), fuels for transport and air transport (-0.07 each) had the biggest downward impacts.
