Annual inflation rises, drops in EU

Annual inflation in Cyprus increased to 4.3% in September, up from 3.1% in August, bucking the downward trend in the wider EU.

A year ago, Cyprus’ inflation rate was 9.0%, according to Eurostat.

The eurozone annual inflation rate was 4.3% in September, down from 5.2% in August. A year earlier, the rate was 9.9%.

European Union annual inflation was 4.9% in September, down from 5.9% in August. A year earlier, the rate was 10.9%.

The lowest annual rates were registered in the Netherlands (-0.3%), Denmark (0.6%) and Belgium (0.7%).

The highest annual rates were recorded in Hungary (12.2%), Romania (9.2%) and Slovakia (9.0%).

Compared with August, annual inflation fell in 21 Member States, remained stable in one and rose in five (including Cyprus).

In September, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from services (+2.05 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+1.78 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+1.06 pp) and energy (-0.55 pp).

Cyprus’ Harmonised Consumer Prices Index (HCPI) rose by 4.3% in September, marking its second consecutive rise fuelled mainly by rising prices in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages.

For the nine months of January to September, the HICP rose by 4.4% compared to last year.

Compared to September 2022, the largest price changes were in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, with 10.2% and Restaurants and Hotels, which rose by 5.9%.

In contrast, compared with August, the largest change was registered in Clothing and Footwear, with 7.6%.