Eurostat: Romania has the highest inflation in the EU

The annual inflation rate in the European Union increased in July to 2.8%, from a level of 2.6% in June, Romania being, once again, the country with the highest inflation in the EU bloc, according to published data by Eurostat.

In July, the EU member countries with the lowest annual inflation rates were Finland (0.5%), Latvia (0.8%) and Denmark (1%). At the opposite pole, the EU member countries with the highest inflation rates were Romania (5.8%), Belgium (5.4%) and Hungary (4.1%), according to Eurostat data.

Compared to the data of June 2024, the annual inflation rate decreased in nine member states, remained stable in four countries and increased in 14 member states, including Romania from 5.3% to 5.8%.

In the euro zone, the annual inflation rate increased slightly from 2.5% in June to 2.6% in July. However, Eurostat data shows that core inflation, i.e. what remains after prices for volatile goods such as energy and food are removed, remained stable at 2.8%.

Another indicator that, in addition to energy and food prices, also excludes cigarette and alcohol prices, also remained stable at 2.9%. Core inflation is the indicator closely followed by the ECB when elaborating its monetary policy decisions.

In the case of Romania, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) previously informed that the annual inflation rate rose, in July 2024, to 5.42%, from 4.94% in June, as food commodities they increased in price by 1.71%, non-food by 6.92%, and services by 8.52%.

According to the cited source, the harmonized index of consumer prices in July 2024 compared to June 2024 was 100.60%. The inflation rate since the beginning of the year (July 2024 compared to December 2023) was 3.2%.

The annual inflation rate in July 2024 compared to July 2023 was 5.4%. The average rate of change in consumer prices in the last 12 months (August 2023 – July 2024) compared to the previous 12 months (August 2022 – July 2023) was 6.8%.