Eurozone annual inflation was 2.4% in June 2012, unchanged from May (2.7% a year earlier). It has remained above the 2% limit recommended by the European Central Bank (ECB) for 19 consecutive months. EU annual inflation rose slightly to 2.6% in June 2012, compared with 2.5% in May (3.1% in June 2011), Eurostat reported, on 16 July.

In June 2012, the lowest annual rates were observed in Sweden (0.9%), Greece (1%) and Bulgaria (1.6%), and the highest in Hungary (5.6%), Estonia and Malta (both 4.4%). Compared with May 2012, annual inflation fell in eight member states, remained stable in eight and rose in ten.

In the eurozone, the main components with the highest annual rates, in June 2012, were alcohol and tobacco (4.9%), housing (3.7%) and transport (3.1%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-2.8%), education (0.7%) and recreation and culture (0.8%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.13 percentage points), gas (+0.11) and tobacco (+0.10) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.17), cars and rents (-0.06 each) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were food and hotels and restaurants (both 0.4%) and communications (0.2%), while the lowest monthly rates were observed for clothing (-1.2%), transport (-0.7%) and housing (-0.1%). Fruit (+0.08 percentage points) and accommodation services (+0.03) had the largest upward impacts, while fuels for transport (-0.16), clothing (-0.07) and heating oil (-0.04) had the biggest downward impacts.