Inflation reached 7.9% in Romania in February. The largest increases were in Lithuania, Estonia, and Czechia. France has the lowest inflation rate in the EU

By Jerom Bolt
Inflation is rising sharply in the European Union, both in the euro area and in the rest of the states, according to the latest Eurostat press release.
The euro area annual inflation rate was 5.9% in February 2022, up from 5.1% in January. A year earlier, the rate was 0.9%. European Union annual inflation was 6.2% in February 2022, up from 5.6% in January. A year earlier, the rate was 1.3%. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The lowest annual rates were registered in Malta, France (both 4.2%), Portugal, Finland and Sweden (all 4.4%).
The highest annual rates were recorded in Lithuania (14.0%), Estonia (11.6%) and Czechia (10.0%).
In Romania, the annual inflation rate in February was, according to Eurostat, 7.9%, below the level registered in Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary.
Compared with January, annual inflation fell in two Member States and rose in twenty-five.
In February, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+3.12 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+1.04 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.90 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.81 pp).