Euro area annual inflation was 4.0% in July 2008, unchanged compared with June. A year earlier the rate was 1.8%. Monthly inflation was -0.2% in July 2008.

EU annual inflation was 4.4% in July 2008, up from 4.3% in June. A year earlier the rate was 2.0%. Monthly inflation was -0.1% in July 2008. The annual inflation rate for Malta in July 2008 stands at 5.6%.

Inflation in the EU Member States - In July 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in the Netherlands (3.0%), Portugal (3.1%) and Germany (3.5%), and the highest in Latvia (16.5%), Bulgaria (14.4%) and Lithuania (12.4%). Compared with June 2008, annual inflation rose in fifteen Member States, remained stable in five and fell in seven.

The lowest 12-month averages up to July 2008 were registered in the Netherlands (1.8%), the United Kingdom (2.6%) and Portugal (2.7%), and the highest in Latvia (15.1%), Bulgaria (12.3%) and Estonia (10.1%). Malta stood at 3.3%.

Euro area - The main components with the highest annual rates in July 2008 were transport (7.2%), food and housing (both 6.7%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-2.2%), clothing (-0.5%) and recreation & culture (0.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.71 percentage points), heating oil (+0.39) and milk, cheese & eggs (+0.20) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while garments (-0.24), telecommunications (-0.20) and cars (-0.19) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation & culture and hotels & restaurants (both 1.3%) and housing (0.8%), and the lowest were clothing (-9.3%), household equipment (-0.4%) and communications (-0.3%). In particular, package holidays (+0.15 percentage points), accommodation services (+0.11) and fuels for transport (+0.05) had the largest upward impacts, while garments (-0.50) and footwear (-0.13) had the biggest downward impacts.