The annual inflation rate in the euro area rose slightly to 0.4% in July 2020, from 0.3% in June 2020, while in the European Union it rose to 0.9%, from 0.8% in the previous month, the member countries with the highest inflation rates being, and this time, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania, show the data published on Wednesday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).

Compared to June, the annual inflation rate in July fell in 10 Member States, remained stable in three countries and rose in 14 Member States. In Romania, the annual inflation rate rose to 2.5% in July, from 2.2% in June, according to Agerpres.

The highest annual inflation rates in the EU were recorded last month in Hungary (3.9%), Poland (3.7%), the Czech Republic (3.6%) and Romania (2.5%). At the opposite pole are some EU Member States where the annual inflation rate is negative: Greece (minus 2.1%), Cyprus (minus 2%) and Estonia (minus 1.3%).

In the euro area, prices for industrial products (0.42 percentage points) had the most significant impact on annual price increases, followed by prices for food, alcohol and cigarettes (0.38 percentage points). In contrast, lower energy prices wiped out 0.83 percentage points of the inflation advance in July.