Euro area's annual inflation up to 8.1% in May 2022

The lowest annual rates were registered in France and Malta (both 5.8 per cent) and Finland (7.1 per cent). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (20.1 per cent), Lithuania (18.5 per cent) and Latvia (16.8 per cent).

Compared with April, annual inflation fell in one Member State and rose in twenty-six. In May, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+3.87 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (+1.59 pp), services (+1.46 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+1.13 pp).

The euro area consists of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland, while the European Union includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KD)