Cyprus annual inflation was 1.8% in December 2008 , down from 3.1 in November 2008.
According to a Eurostat news release issued here Thursday, said that Euro area annual inflation was 1.6% in December 2008, down from 2.1% in November. A year earlier the rate was 3.1%. Monthly inflation was -0.1% in December 2008.
EU annual inflation was 2.2% in December 2008, down from 2.8% in November. A year earlier the rate was 3.2%. Monthly inflation was -0.1% in December 2008.
In December 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in Luxembourg (0.7%), Portugal (0.8%) and Germany (1.1%), and the highest in Latvia (10.4%), Lithuania (8.5%) and Estonia (7.5%). Compared with November 2008, annual inflation fell in twenty-four member states and rose in one.
The lowest 12-month averages up to December 2008 were registered in the Netherlands (2.2%), Portugal (2.7%) and Germany (2.8%), and the highest in Latvia (15.3%), Bulgaria (12.0%) and Lithuania (11.1%).
The main components with the highest annual rates in December 2008 were housing (3.6%), alcohol and tobacco (3.5%) and hotels and restaurants (3.3%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for transport (-2.5%), communications (-1.8%) and recreation & culture (0.3%).
Concerning the detailed sub-indices, gas (+0.28 percentage points), restaurants and cafes (+0.16), bread and cereals and electricity (+0.11 each) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while fuels for transport (-0.81), heating oil (-0.20) and telecommunications (-0.12) had the biggest downward impacts.
The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation and culture (2.0%), hotels and restaurants (1.0%) and food (0.2%), and the lowest were transport (-1.9%), clothing (-0.8%) and housing (-0.7%). In particular, package holidays (+0.20 percentage points) and accommodation services (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts, while fuels for transport (-0.34) and heating oil (-0.14) had the biggest downward impacts.
Source: Financial Mirror
