The euro area’s annual inflation rate went up to 3.2% in August, Eurostat said in its final release, down from the previous estimate of 3.3%.
The August rate was higher than July’s 2.9% rate and a year ago’s 2%. Consumer prices increased 0.4% from the previous month.
Energy continued to be the largest contributor to inflation, up 14.3% from a year ago (up 10.3% in July). Inflation for non-energy industrial goods rose to 1.2% up from 0.9%.
Services inflation, meanwhile, eased to 3% from 3.3% and food, alcohol and tobacco inflation slowed slightly to 1.1% from 1.2%.
Basic inflation (excluding energy and food, alcohol and tobacco) came in at 2.4%, down from 2.5%. The other major contributor to the total annual rate of inflation was services, with 1.43 points, and energy with 1.29 points.
In the much broader EU, annual inflation also went up to 3.2% in August, from 3% in July.
Sweden, with an annual inflation rate of 0.3%, Estonia (1.3%) and Czechia (1.5%) had the lowest values among EU members. Romania (6.3%), Lithuania (5.6%) and Cyprus (5.2%) had the highest rates.
Inflation decreased in 6 member states of the EU, was unchanged in one and increased in 20, compared to July.
