The Euro Area annual inflation rate for 2021 inched up to 5.0 per cent while the European Union was 5.3 per cent.

The statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) reports that in December 2021 the inflation in the Euro Area went up by 0.1 per cent from the 4.9 per cent reported in November 2021. However, a year earlier in December 2020, the rate was -0.3 per cent.

Additionally, in the EU the annual inflation was reported at 5.3 per cent, which was 0.1 per cent greater than the November 2021 rate of 5.2 per cent. In the previous year, the rate was 0.3 per cent.

The lowest annual rates were observed in Malta (2.6 per cent), Portugal (2.8 per cent) and Finland (3.2 per cent). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia, Lithuania and Poland 12.0 per cent, 10.7 per cent and 8.0 per cent, respectively.

When compared with November, the annual inflation rate rose in eighteen EU Member States, remain stable in two and fell in seven.

Eurostat reports that the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate in December 2021 came from energy (+2.46 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+1.02 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+0.78 pp) and food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.71 pp).