Euro area annual inflation was 3.8% in August 2008, down from 4.0% in July. A year earlier the rate was 1.7%. Monthly inflation was -0.1% in August 2008. EU annual inflation was 4.2% in August 2008, down from 4.4% in July. A year earlier the rate was 1.9%. Monthly inflation was -0.1% in August 2008.

These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In August 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in the Netherlands (3.0%), Portugal (3.1%) and Ireland (3.2%), and the highest in Latvia (15.6%), Lithuania (12.2%) and Bulgaria (11.8%). Compared with July 2008, annual inflation fell in nineteen Member States, remained stable in three and rose in four.
The lowest 12-month averages4 up to August 2008 were registered in the Netherlands (2.0%), Portugal (2.8%) and Sweden (3.0%), and the highest in Latvia (15.5%), Bulgaria (12.5%) and Estonia (10.5%).

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in August 2008 were housing and transport (both 6.3%) and food (6.2%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-2.5%), clothing (0.4%) and recreation & culture (0.5%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.52 percentage points), heating oil (+0.29) and milk, cheese & eggs (+0.19) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.20), garments (-0.18) and cars (-0.17) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (1.6%), hotels & restaurants (0.4%), household equipment and recreation & culture (both 0.2%), and the lowest were transport (-1.3%), education (-0.5%) and food (-0.4%). In particular, garments (+0.10 percentage points), air transport, package holidays, accommodation services and meat (+0.03 each) had the largest upward impacts, while fuels for transport (-0.28), heating oil (-0.10), vegetables and fruit (-0.05 each) had the biggest downward impacts.