Euro area annual inflation was 3.3% in February 2008, up from 3.2% in January. A year earlier the rate was 1.8%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in February 2008.

EU3 annual inflation was 3.4% in February 2008, unchanged compared to January. A year earlier the rate was 2.1%. Monthly inflation was 0.4% in February 2008.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In February 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in the Netherlands (2.0%), Germany, Portugal and Sweden (2.9% each), and the highest in Latvia (16.5%), Bulgaria (12.2%) and Estonia (11.5%). Compared with January 2008, annual inflation rose in fourteen Member States, remained stable in eight and fell in four.

The lowest 12-month averages4 up to February 2008 were registered in Malta (1.2%), the Netherlands (1.7%), Denmark, France, Finland and Sweden (1.9% each), and the highest in Latvia (11.6%), Bulgaria (8.6%) and Estonia (7.8%).

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in February 2008 were education (9.7%), food (5.8%) and transport (5.4%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-3.1%), recreation & culture (0.0%) and clothing (1.0%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.50 percentage points), milk, cheese & eggs (+0.23), heating oil (+0.21) and bread & cereals (+0.14) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.20), cars (-0.14) and garments (-0.11) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation & culture (1.0%), clothing and hotels & restaurants (0.7% each), and the lowest were communications (-0.4%), health (0.0%) and transport (0.1%). In particular, package holidays (+0.07 percentage points), accommodation services (+0.04) and garments (+0.03) had the largest upward impacts, while vegetables (-0.05), fuels for transport (-0.04) and telecommunications (-0.03) had the biggest downward impacts.