Romania posted a 0.3 percent annual inflation rate this January, the second lowest level, right behind Ireland (0.2 percent), and ahead of Bulgaria (0.4 percent), according to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
European Union annual inflation was 1.7 percent in January 2017, up from 1.2 percent in December, according to data from the same source. Compared with December 2016, annual inflation fell in two member states and rose in twenty-six.
Euro area annual inflation reached 1.8 percent in January 2017, up from 1.1 percent in December 2016. In January 2016 the rate was 0.3 percent.
The highest annual rates were reported in Belgium (3.1 percent), Latvia and Spain (both 2.9 percent), and Estonia (2.8 percent). The largest upward impacts to euro area annual inflation came from fuels for transport (+0.50 percentage points), heating oil and vegetables (+0.14 pp each), while telecommunication (-0.09 pp), gas (-0.08 pp) and bread & cereals (-0.05 pp) had the biggest downward impacts.
Simona Bazavan