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Cyprus recorded the lowest annual inflation rate in the European Union in July, just 0.1%, as price growth across the euro area held steady at 2.0%, according to data released Friday by Eurostat.
The figure marks a sharp contrast with the wider bloc, where EU inflation rose slightly to 2.4% in July, up from 2.3% in June. A year earlier, the EU’s inflation rate stood at 2.8%.
France and Ireland joined Cyprus among the countries with the slowest price growth, posting rates of 0.9% and 1.6% respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, Romania registered the highest annual inflation in the EU at 6.6%, followed by Estonia at 5.6% and Slovakia at 4.6%.
The July figures show mixed trends across member states: inflation declined in eight countries, remained unchanged in six and rose in thirteen.
Across the euro area, services contributed the most to the annual inflation rate, adding 1.46 percentage points. Food, alcohol and tobacco added 0.63 points, while non-energy industrial goods contributed 0.18 points. Energy prices, by contrast, pulled inflation down by 0.23 points.
The eurozone’s July inflation figure is down from 2.6% a year earlier, suggesting that the European Central Bank’s efforts to stabilize price growth are having some effect.
