EU: Annual inflation falls in December

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Consumer prices in the European Union rose 1.7 percent year-on-year in December, the EU's statistical office announced Thursday.

According to Eurostat, the 28-member bloc's annual inflation rate fell 0.3 percentage points last month, down from 2.0 percent in November.

"Compared with November 2018, annual inflation fell in 22 member states, remained stable in three, and rose in three," the statistical office said.

Greece and Portugal saw the lowest annual rates in the month -- both 0.6 percent -- while the highest figures were in Estonia and Romania at 3.3 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

From 2008 to 2018, the lowest annual figure in the EU was seen in January 2015 at minus 0.5 percent -- when prices were, in fact, dropping -- as the highest annual inflation rate was in July 2008, at 4.4 percent.