Energy prices drive euro area inflation to 3.8 percent – Bulgaria among the highest
Eurostat confirms euro area inflation rose to 3.8 percent in September. Energy contributed 1.71 percentage points – more than any other group. Bulgaria is among the leaders at 5.6 percent.
Symbolic image · Photo: European Commission (Christophe Licoppe) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Price growth in the euro area picked up markedly in September. Annual inflation stood at 3.8 percent, after 3.2 percent in August and 2.2 percent a year earlier, EU statistics office Eurostat said in its final estimate on Friday. The rate across the whole EU was also 3.8 percent. Energy made the largest contribution at 1.71 percentage points, up from 1.29 points in August. It was followed by services (1.52 points), non-energy industrial goods (0.29) and food, alcohol and tobacco (0.25).
Inflation rose in 23 member states, was stable in three and fell in only one. The highest rates were recorded in Romania (6.5 percent), Lithuania (6.1 percent) and Bulgaria (5.6 percent, after 5.0 percent in August). Inflation was lowest in Sweden (1.0 percent) and in Hungary and Denmark (2.1 percent each). On the harmonised index, Germany stood at 3.3 percent, France at 3.4, Italy at 4.2 and Spain at 5.0 percent.