Inflation in the EU Member States
In May 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Latvia (-2.4%), Ireland (-1.9%) and the Netherlands (0.4%), and the highest in Greece (5.3%), Hungary (4.9%) and Romania (4.4%). Compared with April 2010, annual inflation fell in ten Member States, remained stable in five and rose in twelve.
The lowest 12-month averages4 up to May 2010 were registered in Ireland (-2.5%), Latvia (-1.2%) and Portugal(-0.5%), and the highest in Hungary (5.1%), Romania (4.7%) and Poland (3.6%).
Euro area
The main components with the highest annual rates in May 2010 were transport (5.5%) and alcohol & tobacco (4.4%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.1%), recreation & culture (-0.3%) and food (-0.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.71 percentage points), heating oil (+0.23) and tobacco (+0.12) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while gas (-0.12), cars (-0.10) and telecommunications (-0.09) had the biggest downward impacts.
The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation & culture and alcohol & tobacco (both 0.4%), while the lowest were food and communications (both -0.2%) and education (0.0%). In particular, fuels for transport (+0.04 percentage points), fruit (+0.03), package holidays and heating oil (+0.02 each) had the largest upward impacts, while vegetables (-0.06) and air transport (-0.02) had the biggest downward impacts.
