Euro area annual inflation was 2.4 per cent in April 2006, up from 2.2 per cent in March, figures released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, show.

A year earlier the rate was 2.1 per cent. Monthly inflation was 0.7 per cent in April 2006. EU25 annual inflation was 2.3 per cent in April 2006, up from 2.1 per cent in March. A year earlier the rate was 2.1 per cent. Monthly inflation was 0.7 per cent in April 2006.

In April 2006, the lowest annual rates were observed in Poland (1.2 per cent), Finland (1.5 per cent), Denmark, Holland and Sweden (1.8 per cent each), and the highest rates in Latvia (6.1 per cent), Slovakia (4.4 per cent), Estonia (4.3 per cent) and Spain (3.9 per cent). Compared with March 2006, annual inflation rose in 16 member states, remained stable in three and fell in six. In Malta, inflation was 3.5 per cent in April.

The lowest 12-month averages up to April 2006 were in Finland (1.0 per cent), Sweden (1.1 per cent), Poland (1.4 per cent) and Holland (1.6 per cent); the highest were in Latvia (6.9 per cent), Estonia (4.1 per cent), Luxembourg (3.9 per cent) and Spain (3.6 per cent). Malta’s 12-month average was 2.9 per cent.

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in April 2006 were housing (5.3 per cent), transport (4.6 per cent), alcohol and tobacco, and hotels and restaurants (2.7 per cent each), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-3.7 per cent), clothing (0.4 per cent) and recreation and culture (0.5 per cent).

Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport had the largest upward impact on the headline rate (+0.35 percentage points), followed by gas (+0.19) and heating oil (+0.14), while telecommunications (-0.18) and garments (-0.12) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (3.0 per cent) and transport (1.6 per cent), and the lowest were communications (-0.7 per cent) and recreation and culture (-0.3 per cent).

In particular, fuels for transport (+0.16 percentage points) and garments (+0.13) had the largest upward impacts, while telecommunications (-0.04), rents, and restaurants and cafés (-0.03 each) had the biggest downward impacts.