Euro-zone annual inflation was 2.2% in December 20051, down from 2.3% in November. A year earlier the rate was 2.4%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in December.

EU252 annual inflation was 2.1% in December 2005, down from 2.2% in November. A year earlier the rate was 2.4%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in December.

EICP3 annual inflation was 2.1% in December 2005.
These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Inflation in the Member States4
In December 2005, the lowest annual rates were observed in Poland (0.8%), Finland (1.1%), Sweden (1.3%) and Cyprus (1.4%), and the highest rates in Latvia (7.1%), Slovakia (3.9%), Spain (3.7%) and Estonia (3.6%).

Compared with November 2005, annual inflation rose in ten Member States, remained stable in three and fell in eleven.

The lowest 12-month averages5 up to December 2005 were in Finland and Sweden (0.8% each), the Netherlands (1.5%), the Czech Republic (1.6%) and Denmark (1.7%); the highest were in Latvia (6.9%), Estonia (4.1%), Luxembourg (3.8%), Greece and Hungary (both 3.5%).

Euro-zone
The main components with the highest annual rates in December 2005 were housing (5.1%), transport (4.5%) and alcohol and tobacco (2.7%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communication (-2.8%), recreation and culture (0.1%) and clothing (0.3%).

Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport had the largest upward impact on the headline rate (+0.36 percentage points), followed by heating oil (+0.18) and gas (+0.15), while telecommunications (-0.15) and garments (-0.13) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation and culture (2.4%) and hotels and restaurants (1.0%), and the lowest were clothing (-0.6%) and communication (-0.4%).

In particular, package holidays (+0.21 percentage points) and accommodation services (+0.07) had the largest upward impacts, while fuels for transport (-0.08) and garments (-0.07) had the biggest downward impacts.
 
Eurostat