In October 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) was 2.1%, down from 2.5% in September 2018, the National Statistics office said on Friday.

The twelve-month moving average rate was 1.8%.

The largest upward impact on annual inflation was measured in the Restaurants and Hotel Index, while the largest downward impact was recorded in the Recreation and Culture Index.

The highest annual inflation rates in October were registered in the following divisions: Food and Non-Alcoholic beverages (4.0%) and Restaurants and Hotels (3.4%). On the other hand, the lowest annual inflation rates were registered in: Education (-1.6%) and Communications (-1.1%).

In another press release, Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency said that the euro area annual inflation rate was 2.2% in October 2018, up from 2.1% in September 2018. A year earlier, the rate was 1.4%.

European Union annual inflation was also 2.2% in October 2018, up from 2.1% in September 2018. A year earlier, the rate was 1.7%.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Denmark (0.7%), Portugal (0.8%) and Ireland (1.1%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia(4.5%), Romania(4.2%) and Hungary(3.9%).Compared with September 2018, annual inflation fell in eight Member States, remained stable in five and rose in fourteen.

In October 2018, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+1.02 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+0.65 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.42 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.11 pp).