Eurostat: Cyprus annual inflation rate reached 5.2% in June 2008

Cyprus annual inflation was 5.2% in June 2008, recording an increase of 0.6% from last May. For the same period, Euro area annual inflation was 4.0% in June 2008, up from 3.7% in May, marking a new record. A year earlier the rate was 1.9%.
According to a press release, issued yesterday by the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Eurostat, the EU annual inflation was 4.3% in June 2008, up from 4.0% in May. A year earlier the rate was 2.1%.
The main components with the highest annual rates in June 2008 were transport (7.1%), food (6.4%) and housing (6.1%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.6%), recreation & culture (0.1%) and clothing (0.7%).
Concerning the detailed sub-indices, the prices for fuels for transport (18.5% increase), heating oil (+53.1%) and milk, cheese & eggs (+13.4) had the largest upward impacts, while the prices for IT equipment (-15 %), and for audio-visual equipment (-10.4%) recorded the biggest downward impacts.
In June 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in the Netherlands (2.3%), Germany and Portugal (3.4% each), and the highest in Latvia (17.5%), Bulgaria (14.7%) and Lithuania (12.7%). Compared with May 2008, annual inflation rose in twenty-one Member States, remained stable in two and fell in three.
Specifically, the annual rates for each EU member state in June 2008 were as follow: Belgium 5.8%, Germany 3.4%, Ireland 3.9%, Greece 4.9%, Spain 5.1%, France 3.7% (in May 2008), Italy 4.0%, Cyprus 5.2%, Luxembourg 5.3%, Malta 4.4%, the Netherlands 2.3%, Austria 4.0%, Portugal 3.4%, Slovenia 6.8%, Finland 4.3%, Bulgaria 14.7%, Czech Republic 6.6%, Denmark 4.2%, Estonia 11.5%, Latvia 17.5%, Lithuania 12.7%, Hungary 6.6%, Poland 4.3%, Romania 8.7%, Slovakia 4.3%, Sweden 4.1%, and the United Kingdom 3.8%.