Posted in:
Brussels (AFP) – The annual rate of inflation in the euro area recorded a decline in December for the second consecutive month, reaching 9.2 per cent, after being 10.1 per cent in November, thanks to the continued decline in energy prices in the world, the European Statistical Agency (Eurostat) announced on Friday.
The increase in consumer prices fell below the symbolic threshold of 10% for the first time since October, when it had reached a record level (10.6%), after an uninterrupted year and a half.
And the rate of decline is higher than the expectations of analysts from the Bloomberg Financial Agency and the American FactSet Corporation, who expected the inflation rate in December to reach 9.5% and 9.7%, respectively.
The slowdown in price increases only affects the energy sector (electricity, gas, oil…).
Among the components of inflation in the Eurozone, energy prices recorded the highest annual increase in December, but fell to 25.7% from 34.9% in November, according to Eurostat.
Food prices (including alcoholic beverages and tobacco) continue to rise, with an annual increase of 13.8% compared to 13.6% the previous month.
As for industrial products and services, the prices of which are also on the rise, the rate of increase was respectively 6.4 per cent (+0.3 per cent compared to November) and 4.4 per cent (+ 0.2 percent).
Among the 19 countries of the Eurozone (noting that Croatia became the twentieth country earlier this month to adopt the single currency), the lowest inflation rate was recorded in December in Spain with 5.6% , followed by Luxembourg (6.2%) and France (6%).,7%).
Consumer prices increased by 9.6% in Germany and by 12.3% in Italy.
The highest inflation rates were recorded in the Baltic countries, reaching 20.7% in Latvia, 20% in Lithuania and 17.5% in Estonia, according to Eurostat data.
© 2023 AFP
