Economia

71/2010 - 18 May 2010

April 2010

Euro area annual inflation up to 1.5%
EU up to 2.0%
Euro area1 annual inflation was 1.5% in April 20102, up from 1.4% in March. A year earlier the rate was 0.6%. Monthly inflation was 0.5% in April 2010. EU3 annual inflation was 2.0% in April 2010, up from 1.9% in March. A year earlier the rate was 1.3%. Monthly inflation was 0.4% in April 2010. Thesefigures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Inflation in the EU Member States
In April 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Latvia (-2.8%), Ireland (-2.5%) and Lithuania (0.2%), and the highest in Hungary (5.7%), Greece (4.7%) and Romania (4.2%). Compared with March 2010, annual inflation fell in six Member States, remained stable in three and rose inseventeen. The lowest 12-month averages4 up to April 2010 were registered in Ireland (-2.5%), Portugal (-0.7%), Estonia and Latvia (both -0.6%), and the highest in Hungary (5.0%), Romania (4.9%) and Poland (3.8%).

Euro area
The main components with the highest annual rates in April 2010 were transport (5.9%) and alcohol & tobacco (4.2%) while the lowest annual rates were observed for recreation &culture (-1.0%), communications (-0.6%) and food (-0.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.75 percentage points), heating oil (+0.21) and tobacco (+0.11) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while gas (-0.14) and package holidays (-0.11) had the biggest downward impacts. The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (3.2%), transport(0.8%) and housing (0.6%), while the lowest were recreation & culture (-1.1%), communications (-0.2%) and education (-0.1%). In particular, garments (+0.14 percentage points) and fuels for transport (+0.10) had the largest upward impacts, while package holidays (-0.11) had the biggest downward impact.

Annual inflation (%) in April 2010 in ascending order
Euro area
IE -2.5 NL 0.6p PT 0.7 SK0.7 MT 0.8 DE 1.0 Euro area 1.5p ES 1.6 IT 1.6 FI 1.6 AT 1.8p FR 1.9 BE 2.1 CY 2.5 SI 2.7 LU 3.1 EL 4.7

EU Member States outside the euro area
LV -2.8 LT 0.2 CZ 0.9 EU 2.0p SE 2.1 DK 2.4 EE 2.5 PL 2.7 BG 3.0 UK5
Mar 10

RO 4.2

HU 5.7

3.4

Inflation rates in %, measured by HICPs
Annual rates Apr 10 Apr 09 2.1 1.0 -2.5 4.7 1.6 1.9 1.6 2.5 3.1 0.8 0.6p 1.8p 0.7 2.7 0.7 1.6 1.5p 3.00.9 2.4 2.5 -2.8 0.2 5.7 2.7 4.2 2.1 : 2.0p 11.1 3.4 2.0p 1.3
p = provisional

Belgium (BE) Germany (DE) Ireland (IE) Greece (EL) Spain (ES)6 France (FR) Italy (IT) Cyprus (CY) Luxembourg (LU) Malta (MT) Netherlands (NL) Austria (AT) Portugal (PT) Slovenia (SI) Slovakia (SK) Finland (FI) Euro area (MUICP) Bulgaria (BG) Czech Republic (CZ) Denmark (DK) Estonia (EE) Latvia (LV) Lithuania (LT)Hungary (HU) Poland (PL) Romania (RO) Sweden (SE) United Kingdom (UK)5 EU (EICP) Iceland (IS) Norway (NO) EEA (EEAICP) Switzerland (CH)
Source: Eurostat

Mar 10 Mar 09 1.9 1.2 -2.4 3.9 1.5 1.7 1.4 2.3 3.2 0.6 0.7 1.8 0.6 1.8 0.3 1.5 1.4 2.4 0.4 2.1 1.4 -4.0 -0.4 5.7 2.9 4.2 2.5 3.4 1.9 11.6 3.6 1.9 1.4

Feb 10 Feb 09 0.8 0.5 -2.4 2.9 0.9 1.4 1.1 2.8 2.3 0.7 0.3 0.9 0.2 1.6 -0.2 1.3 0.9 1.7 0.41.8 -0.3 -4.3 -0.6 5.6 3.4 4.5 2.8 3.0 1.5 10.7 3.1 1.5 0.9

Jan 10 Jan 09 0.8 0.8 -2.4 2.3 1.1 1.2 1.3 2.5 3.0 1.2 0.4 1.2 0.1 1.8 -0.2 1.6 1.0 1.8 0.4 1.9 -1.0 -3.3 -0.3 6.2 3.9 5.2 2.7 3.5 1.7 10.6 2.7 1.7 0.9

Apr 09 Apr 08 0.7 0.8 -0.7 1.1 -0.2 0.1 1.2 0.6 -0.3 4.0 1.8 0.5 -0.6 1.1 1.4 2.1 0.6 3.8 1.3 1.1 0.9 5.9 5.9 3.2 4.3 6.5 1.8 2.3 1.3 16.3 2.9 1.3 -0.6

12 month average rates4Apr 10-09 Apr 09-08 0.0 0.3 -2.5 2.0 0.1 0.4 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.5p 0.6p -0.7 1.0 0.3 1.4 0.4p 1.6 0.3 1.2 -0.6 -0.6 1.5 5.0 3.8 4.9 2.1 : 1.1p 13.4 2.5 1.1p -0.2

Monthly rates Apr 10 Mar 10 0.5 -0.1 0.0 1.2 1.1 0.3 0.9 1.1 0.4 2.6 0.3p 0.2p 0.4 1.1 0.4 0.3 0.5p 1.2 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.9 0.4 0.9 0.4 0.3 -0.1 : 0.4p 0.3 0.2 0.4p 0.9

: = data not available

Euro area inflation rates in % for main...