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

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%).

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 area, 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 the prices of 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 carefully followed by the ECB when elaborating its monetary policy decisions, according to Agerpres.

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%.