EU inflation rises to 3.2% in August

ANKARA

Consumer prices in the EU in August was 3.2%, up from 2.5% in July, higher than the European Central Bank's 2% target, the bloc's statistics office announced on Friday.

A year earlier, the rate was 0.4%, said Eurostat.


Among the main components of euro-area inflation, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (1.44 percentage points, pp), followed by non-energy industrial goods (0.65 pp) and food, alcohol & tobacco and services (both 0.43 pp).

Compared with July, annual inflation remained stable in one Member State and rose in 26.


The lowest annual rates were seen in Malta (0.4%), Greece (1.2%) and Portugal (1.3%) while the highest figures observed in Estonia, Lithuania and Poland (all 5.0%).


ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday the eurozone economy is recovering quicker than expected from the coronavirus pandemic amid fast vaccination, which enabled most sectors of the economy to reopen.

The ECB previously said it judges that realized progress in underlying inflation is sufficiently advanced to be consistent with inflation stabilizing at 2% over the medium term.

"This may also imply a transitory period in which inflation is moderately above target," it added.