Annual inflation rate in Cyprus rises to 3.1%

Cyprus’ annual inflation in February rose to 3.1% compared to 3.0% in January.

According to data released on Wednesday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, the annual inflation in the 25 member states was 2.8% in February, unchanged compared with January, whereas in the Euro area the annual inflation recorded a rise to 2.4% compared to 2.3% in January.

Greece’s inflation recorded a decrease of 0.7% to 4.2% compared to 4.9% in January.

In February 2011, the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (0.9%), Sweden (1.2%) and France (1.8%), and the highest in Romania (7.6%), Estonia (5.5%) and Bulgaria (4.6%). Compared with January 2011, annual inflation rose in fifteen Member States, remained stable in three and fell in eight.

The lowest 12-month averages up to February 2011 were registered in Ireland (-1.1%), Latvia (0.0%) and the Netherlands (1.2%), and the highest in Romania (6.5%), Greece (5.0%) and Hungary (4.4%).

The main components with the highest annual rates in February 2011 were transport (5.7%), housing (4.9%) and alcohol & tobacco (3.5%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for clothing (-2.6%), communications (-0.4%) and recreation & culture (0.0%).