Romania has had the biggest annual inflation rate in the EU in September

Romania was, in September 2014, the country with the highest inflation rate in the EU (1.8%), while the EU annual inflation rate in September was 0.4% and in the euro area of 0.3%, according to data released Thursday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) and quoted by Agerpres.

Compared to August 2014, the inflation rose in nine Member States (including Romania from 1.3% to 1.8%), it remained stable in two states and fell in 17 Member States. The countries with the lowest inflation rate were Bulgaria (minus 1.4%), Greece (minus 1.1%) and Portugal (minus 0.5%).

The biggest impact of growth on inflation in the euro area came from restaurants and coffee shops prices (which increased by 0.09 percentage points) and rents (which increased by 0.07 percentage points). However, the fuel prices fell by 0.21 percentage points and the prices for telecommunications services fell by 0.12 percentage points.

The annual inflation in the euro area is well below the 2%, the target set by the European Central Bank (ECB), which may make them to adopt new easing measures at its meeting next month.

According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS), consumer prices rose in September compared to August, by 0.12% and compared to September 2013, the inflation was 1.54%.

According to INS, the overall average price increase in the past 12 months (October 2013-September 2014) compared to the previous 12 months (October 2012-September 2013), determined by the consumer price index (CPI) is 1.2% and the increase determined by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is 1.3%.