Annual inflation in the European Union was 2.2% in December 2008, down 0.6 percentage points down from 2.8% in November, Eurostat said Thursday.
In the euro area, annual inflation in December decreased by 50 basis points to 1.6% from 2.1% in November.
Among the EU member states, in December 2008, the lowest annual rates were observed in Luxembourg, at 0.7%, Portugal, with 0.8% and Germany, with 1.1%.
The highest annual rates were recorded by Latvia, with 10.4%, Lithuania, with 8.5% and Estonia, with 7.5%.
As regards the monthly inflation, Romania ranked third in the EU, with a inflationary rate of 0.2% in December, similar with Malta’s level, surpassed only by Iceland, with 1.6%, and Germany, with 0.4%.
On the month, both the European Union and the euro area reported deflation, or a 0.1% decrease of the consumer price index in December 2008.
In Romania, annual inflation was at 6.4% in 2008, and the prices grew by 0.2% in December compared with November.