Euro area annual inflation was 1.6% in July 2013, stable compared with June. A year earlier the rate was 2.4%. Monthly inflation was -0.5% in July 2013. European Union annual inflation was 1.7% in July 2013, stable compared with June. A year earlier the rate was 2.5%. Monthly inflation was -0.4% in July 2013.

In July 2013, the lowest annual rates were observed in Greece (-0.5%), Bulgaria (0.0%) and Denmark (0.4%), and the highest in Estonia (3.9%), Romania (3.4%) and the Netherlands (3.1%). Compared with June 2013, annual inflation fell in seventeen Member States, remained stable in two and rose in nine. The lowest 12-month average rates up to July 2013 were registered in Greece (0.1%), Sweden (0.7%) and Latvia (0.8%), and the highest in Romania (4.5%), Estonia (3.9%) and Croatia (3.7%).

The largest upward impacts to euro area annual inflation came from fruit (+0.12 percentage points), vegetables (+0.09) and tobacco (+0.08), while telecommunications (-0.18), medical & paramedical services (-0.08) and fuels for transport (-0.06) had the biggest downward impacts.