ANKARA

European Union's annual inflation rate hit 8.8% in May 2022, up from 8.1% in April, according to the statistical office of the bloc.

Last year, the figure was 2.3%, Eurostat said.

The euro area annual inflation rate also increased 8.1% in May 2022, up from 7.4% in April.

The lowest annual rates were seen in France and Malta (both 5.8%) and Finland (7.1%), while the highest annual rates were observed in Estonia (20.1%), Lithuania (18.5%) and Latvia (16.8%).

In May, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+3.87 percentage points), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+1.59 pp), services (+1.46 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+1.13 pp).