In December 2012, the lowest annual rates were observed in Greece (0.3%), Sweden (1.1%), France and Cyprus (both 1.5%), and the highest in Hungary (5.1%), Romania (4.6%) and Estonia (3.6%). Compared with November 2012, annual inflation rose in eleven Member States, remained stable in four and fell in eleven.
The lowest 12-month averages4 up to December 2012 were registered in Sweden (0.9%), Greece (1.0%) and Germany (2.1%), and the highest in Hungary (5.7%), Estonia (4.2%), Poland and Slovakia (both 3.7%).
Euro area
The main components with the highest annual rates in December 2012 were alcohol & tobacco (3.6%), housing (3.4%), food and education (both 3.0%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-3.8%), household equipment (1.0%) and recreation & culture (1.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport and electricity (+0.10 percentage points each) and vegetables (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.19), cars (-0.07) and financial services (-0.06) had the biggest downward impacts.
The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation & culture (2.2%) and hotels & restaurants (1.2%), while the lowest monthly rates were recorded for clothing (-1.3%), alcohol & tobacco, housing, health and education (all 0.0%). In particular, package holidays (+0.20 percentage points), accommodation services (+0.09) and air transport (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts, while garments (-0.10), fuels for transport (-0.06) and heating oil (-0.03) had the biggest downward impacts.
