In its monthly update on inflation, Eurostat reports that the inflation rate for the European Union as a whole was 10.4% in December. This is down from 11.1% in November and 11.5% in October.
The 19-country euro zone (Croatia made it 20 on January 1st) had an inflation rate of 9.2%. Following the EU as a whole, this was also a decline from previous months: 10.1% in November and 10.6% in October.
Barring any rebounds in January, inflation has evidently peaked in 24 of the 27 EU member states:
- In 10 member states, the top inflation rate was recorded in October;
- In 4 states, November represented the peak;
- In 5 states, the top month was September.
Some countries have experienced a protracted inflation top, stretching out over two months. The French economy topped at 11.1% in October and November; Italy peaked at 12.6% in the same two months. Luxembourg and Malta had their highest inflation rates in September and October: 8.8% and 7.4%, respectively.
Three countries have yet to see the top of their inflation rates. In Hungary, December inflation reached 25%, up from 23.1% in November and 21.9% in October. This is currently the highest rate in the EU.
Slovenian inflation was 10.8% in both November and December. Technically, the country’s rate peaked in July at 11.7%, but after falling to 10.3% in October it has ticked up again and shows no signs of declining.
Sweden is home to a similarly persistent trend. After topping out at 10.3% in September, the Swedish inflation rate fell to 9.8% in October and has since risen again: 10.1% in November and 10.8% in December.
Hungary is not the only country with more than 20% inflation. Latvia is at 20.7%, with the rate slowly declining from the 22% peak in September. The Lithuanian rate for December of 20% is also a modest decline from September when it reached 22.5%.
With 5.5%, Spain currently has the lowest inflation rate in the European Union.
