Brussels - WAM
Euro area annual inflation was 1.9 percent in April 2017, up from 1.5 percent in March.
In April 2016 the rate was -0.2 percent, according to figures released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
European Union annual inflation was 2.0 percent in April 2017, up from 1.6 percent in March. A year earlier the rate was -0.2 percent.
''The lowest annual rates were registered in Romania (0.6 percent), Ireland (0.7 percent) and Slovakia (0.8 percent). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (3.6 percent), Lithuania (3.5 percent) and Latvia (3.3 percent). Compared with March 2017, annual inflation fell in six Member States, remained stable in three and rose in nineteen,Eurostat noted.
The largest upward impacts to euro area annual inflation came from fuels for transport (+0.39 percentage points), package holidays (+0.12 pp) and heating oil (+0.11 pp), while telecommunication (-0.11 pp), garments (-0.08 pp) and bread & cereals (-0.05 pp) had the biggest downward impacts.
Source: WAM