By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

Consumer prices in the euro area (EA19) down to 1.2 percent on a yearly basis in April, according to Eurostat data released Wednesday.

Last month, the annual inflation rate among EA19 countries decreased by 0.1 percentage points from 1.3 percent in March, while the annual inflation rate in the euro area was 1.9 percent in April last year.

In April 2018, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from food, alcohol and tobacco with 0.47 percentage points, followed by services with 0.45 percentage points, energy 0.25 percentage points and non-energy industrial goods with 0.77 percentage points, the statistical authority said.

Eurostat data said the annual inflation rate in the European Union -- including all 28 member countries -- was 1.4 percent in April, down from 1.5 percent in the previous month. It was 2 percent in the same month of 2017.

The EU statistical office said that an annual drop in consumer prices was registered in the Greek Cypriot administration and Ireland, down 0.3 and 0.1 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile the highest annual inflation rates were seen in Romania with 4.3 percent, Slovakia with 3 percent and Lithuania with 2.9 percent, it noted.

"Compared with March 2018, annual inflation fell in twelve member states, remained stable in one and rose in fourteen" it added. 

Over the last decade, the highest annual inflation rate in the EU was seen in July 2008, up 4.4 percent. The lowest was in January 2015, at minus 0.5 percent, when prices were in fact dropping.