Inflatie in augustus 1,6% (en)

Euro area1 annual inflation was 1.6% in August 20102, down from 1.7% in July. A year earlier the rate was -0.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in August 2010.

EU3 annual inflation was 2.0% in August 2010, down from 2.1% in July. A year earlier the rate was 0.6%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in August 2010.

These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In August 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (-1.2%), Latvia (-0.4%) and Germany (1.0%), and the highest in Romania (7.6%), Greece (5.6%) and Hungary (3.6%). Compared with July 2010, annual inflation rose in ten, remained stable in nine and fell in eight Member States.

The lowest 12-month averages4 up to August 2010 were registered in Ireland (-2.3%), Latvia (-2.0%), Portugal and Slovakia (both 0.3%), and the highest in Hungary and Romania (both 5.0%) and Greece (3.5%).

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in August 2010 were alcohol & tobacco and transport (both 3.3%) and housing (2.6%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-0.5%), recreation & culture (-0.1%) and clothing (0.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.31 percentage points), heating oil (+0.13) and vegetables (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while garments (-0.08) and telecommunications (-0.07) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (1.8%), recreation & culture, hotels & restaurants and miscellaneous goods & services (0.3% each), while the lowest were food (-0.2%), health (-0.1%) and transport (0.0%). In particular, garments (+0.09 percentage points) had the largest upward impact, while fruit and fuels for transport (-0.04 each) had the biggest downward impacts.

Annual inflation (%) in August 2010 in ascending order

Euro area

 

IE

DE

SK

NL

FI

FR

AT

Euro area

ES

IT

PT

BE

SI

LU

MT

CY

EL

-1.2

1.0

1.1

1.2p

1.3

1.6

1.6p

1.6p

1.8

1.8

2.0

2.4

2.4

2.5

3.0

3.4

5.6

EU Member States outside the euro area

 

LV

SE

CZ

LT

PL

EU

DK

EE

UK

BG

HU

RO

-0.4

1.1

1.5

1.8

1.9

2.0p

2.3

2.8

3.1

3.2

3.6

7.6

Inflation rates in %, measured by HICPs

 
 

Annual rates

12 month average rates4

Monthly rates

 

Aug 10

Aug 09

Jul 10

Jul 09

Jun 10

Jun 09

May 10

May 09

Aug 09

Aug 08

Aug 10-09

Aug 09-08

Aug 10

Jul 10

Belgium (BE)

2.4

2.4

2.7

2.5

-0.7

1.2

2.0

Germany (DE)

1.0

1.2

0.8

1.2

-0.1

0.7

0.1

Ireland (IE)

-1.2

-1.2

-2.0

-1.9

-2.4

-2.3

0.2

Greece (EL)

5.6

5.5

5.2

5.3

1.0

3.5

-0.7

Spain (ES)

1.8

1.9

1.5

1.8

-0.7

1.0

0.3

France (FR)

1.6

1.9

1.7

1.9

-0.2

1.2

0.2

Italy (IT)

1.8

1.8

1.5

1.6

0.1

1.2

0.2

Cyprus (CY)

3.4

2.7

2.1

1.8

-0.9

1.7

0.9

Luxembourg (LU)

2.5

2.9

2.3

3.1

-0.2

2.2

1.0

Malta (MT)

3.0

2.5

1.8

1.8

1.0

1.0

1.0

Netherlands (NL)

1.2p

1.3

0.2

0.4

-0.1

0.6p

0.1p

Austria (AT)

1.6p

1.7

1.8

1.7

0.2

1.2p

0.3p

Portugal (PT)

2.0

1.9

1.1

1.1

-1.2

0.3

-0.1

Slovenia (SI)

2.4

2.3

2.1

2.4

0.1

1.8

0.1

Slovakia (SK)

1.1

1.0

0.7

0.7

0.5

0.3

-0.1

Finland (FI)

1.3

1.3

1.3

1.4

1.3

1.3

0.4

Euro area (MUICP)

1.6p

1.7

1.4

1.6

-0.2

1.0p

0.2p

Bulgaria (BG)

3.2

3.2

2.5

3.0

1.3

2.0

0.2

Czech Republic (CZ)

1.5

1.6

1.0

1.0

0.0

0.6

-0.3

Denmark (DK)

2.3

2.1

1.7

1.9

0.7

1.6

0.5

Estonia (EE)

2.8

2.8

3.4

2.8

-0.7

0.5

0.0

Latvia (LV)

-0.4

-0.7

-1.6

-2.4

1.5

-2.0

-0.7

Lithuania (LT)

1.8

1.7

0.9

0.5

2.2

0.8

-0.2

Hungary (HU)

3.6

3.6

5.0

4.9

5.0

5.0

-0.5

Poland (PL)

1.9

1.9

2.4

2.3

4.3

3.1

-0.3

Romania (RO)

7.6

7.1

4.3

4.4

4.9

5.0

0.2

Sweden (SE)

1.1

1.4

1.6

1.9

1.9

2.0

-0.1

United Kingdom (UK)

3.1

3.1

3.2

3.4

1.6

2.8

0.5

EU (EICP)

2.0p

2.1

1.9

2.0

0.6

1.5p

0.2p

Iceland (IS)

5.9

6.2

7.6

10.0

16.0

10.4

0.4

Norway (NO)

1.7

1.8

1.8

2.6

1.8

2.3

-0.4

EEA (EEAICP)

2.0p

2.1

1.9

2.0

0.6

1.6p

0.2p

Switzerland (CH)

0.2

0.4

0.5

1.0

-1.0

0.4

0.0

Source: Eurostat p = provisional

Euro area inflation rates in % for main components, measured by HICPs

 
 

Weight used in 2010

Annual rates

12 month average rates4

Monthly rates

Euro area (MUICP)

 

Aug 10

Aug 09

Jul 10

Jul 09

Jun 10

Jun 09

May 10

May 09

Aug 09

Aug 08

Aug 10-09

Aug 09-08

Aug 10

Jul 10

00 All-items

1000.0

1.6p

1.7

1.4

1.6

-0.2

1.0p

0.2p

01 Food

153.4

1.1p

0.8

0.2

-0.2

-1.2

-0.6p

-0.2p

02 Alcohol and tobacco

38.3

3.3p

3.3

3.7

4.4

4.5

4.1p

0.1p

03 Clothing

67.4

0.2p

0.7

0.6

0.4

0.4

0.3p

1.8p

04 Housing

154.2

2.6p

2.7

1.8

2.0

-1.3

0.5p

0.1p

05 Household equipment

71.0

0.5p

0.5

0.7

0.7

1.7

0.9p

0.2p

06 Health

42.6

0.8p

0.8

0.8

0.8

1.2

0.9p

-0.1p

07 Transport

153.0

3.3p

4.5

3.9

5.5

-3.2

3.1p

0.0p

08 Communications

32.6

-0.5p

-0.9r

-1.1

-1.1

-0.7

-0.7p

0.2p

09 Recreation and culture

96.7

-0.1p

-0.3

-0.2

-0.3

0.5

-0.1p

0.3p

10 Education

10.8

2.3p

1.7

1.7

1.7

0.6

1.6p

0.1p

11 Hotels and restaurants

93.2

1.3p

1.3

1.1

1.1

1.5

1.2p

0.3p

12 Miscellaneous

86.7

2.3p

2.2

2.2

2.0

2.2

2.1p

0.3p

All-items

-excl. energy

904.4

1.1p

1.1

0.9

0.8

1.0

0.8p

0.2p

-excl. energy, FoodAlcTob*

712.7

1.0p

1.0

0.9

0.8

1.3

1.0p

0.4p

-excl. energy, unproc. food

831.4

1.0p

1.0

0.9

0.9

1.2

0.9p

0.3p

-excl. energy, seas. food

867.5

1.0p

1.0

0.9

0.8

1.2

0.9p

0.3p

-excl. tobacco

976.2

1.5p

1.7

1.3

1.5

-0.3

0.9p

0.2p

Energy

95.6

6.1p

8.1

6.2

9.2

-10.2

2.5p

-0.1p

FoodAlcTob*

191.7

1.5p

1.3

0.9

0.7

-0.1

0.3p

-0.2p

Source: Eurostat * FoodAlcTob = Food, alcohol and tobacco p = provisional

Euro area sub-indices with most important impacts

 
 

COICOP

August 10 / August 09

Weight (‰) 2010

Rate (%)

Impact (percentage points)

07.22

Fuels for transport

42.4

8.5p

0.31

04.53

Heating oil

7.7

18.2p

0.13

01.17

Vegetables

14.7

7.1p

0.08

02.20

Tobacco

23.8

4.7p

0.07

12.31

Jewellery and watches

5.3

11.4p

0.05

04.52

Gas

15.4

4.3p

0.04

09.11

Audio-visual equipment

4.7

-8.1p

-0.05

01.11

Bread and cereals

26.0

-0.2p

-0.05

01.12

Meat

36.1

0.1p

-0.06

07.11

Cars

38.9

0.1p

-0.06

08.2/3

Telecommunications

30.9

-0.7p

-0.07

03.12

Garments

49.7

-0.0p

-0.08

 

August 10 / July 10

     

03.12

Garments

49.7

2.2p

0.09

09.60

Package holidays

15.7

2.1p

0.03

07.33

Air transport

5.7

5.2p

0.03

11.20

Accommodation services

16.7

1.2p

0.02

03.21/2

Footwear

13.8

0.9p

0.01

05.11

Furniture

22.5

0.6p

0.01

04.53

Heating oil

7.7

-0.5p

-0.01

07.24

Misc. vehicle charges

10.1

-0.5p

-0.01

07.11

Cars

38.9

-0.4p

-0.02

01.17

Vegetables

14.7

-1.8p

-0.03

07.22

Fuels for transport

42.4

-0.6p

-0.04

01.16

Fruit

11.4

-3.0p

-0.04

Source: Eurostat p = provisional

Measures of inflation

An annual rate measures the price change between the current month and the same month of the previous year. This measure is responsive to recent changes in price levels but can be influenced by one-off effects in either month.

A 12-month average rate overcomes this volatility by comparing average Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) in the latest 12 months to the average of the previous 12 months. This measure is less sensitive to transient changes in prices.

A monthly rate compares price levels between the two latest months. Although up-to-date, it can be affected by seasonal and other effects.

An impact of a particular component measures the change in the headline inflation due to the inclusion of that component in the HICP. The impact takes account of both the weight and whether the inflation for that component is higher or lower than the all-items inflation rate. For example, the impact of ‘tobacco’ is equal to the difference between the all-items inflation rate and the rate for ‘all-items excluding tobacco’. Impacts are not strictly additive.

HICPs designed for international comparison

Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) are harmonised inflation figures required under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. They are designed for international comparison of consumer price inflation.

Price changes as measured by the HICPs, the Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices (MUICP), the European Index of Consumer Prices (EICP) and the European Economic Area Index of Consumer Prices (EEAICP) are used as measures of inflation in the Member States, in the euro area, in the European Union, and in the European Economic Area.

The MUICP is used by, among others, the European Central Bank (ECB) as a main indicator for monetary policy management for the euro area (see ECB press release, 8 May 2003).

The Member States’ HICPs are supplied by the National Statistical Institutes; the MUICP, EICP and EEAICP are compiled by Eurostat. HICPs are computed as annual chain indices allowing weights to be changed each year. HICP aggregates are calculated as weighted averages of the HICPs using the weights of the countries and sub-indices concerned. The weight of a country is its share of the household final monetary consumption expenditure in the total of the country group. For the MUICP this is expressed in euro, for the EICP and the EEAICP it is expressed in Purchasing Power Standards. The MUICP is treated as a single entity within the EICP and EEAICP starting from 1999.

Additional information

More information on HICPs can be obtained from the monthly publication Data in focus, Economy and Finance on "Harmonized indices of consumer prices". About 100 MUICP, EICP, EEAICP and HICP sub-indices with corresponding weights are available in Eurostat’s database. Further details can be found on the HICP section of the Eurostat website: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/hicp/introduction.

Future release dates

Scheduled publication dates for the coming months are:

 

Index for

MUICP flash estimates

HICP News Releases

September 2010

30 September 2010

15 October 2010

October 2010

29 October 2010

16 November 2010

November 2010

30 November 2010

16 December 2010

 

Measure used to determine pric Issued by:

Eurostat Press Office

Tim ALLEN

Tel: +352-4301-33 444

eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu

For further information on methodology:

Tatiana MRLIANOVA

Jarko PASANEN

Tel: +352-4301-32 004

estat-hicp-methods@ec.europa.eu

Eurostat News Releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators