The final data published by Eurostat showed that consumer price growth slowed last month, confirming experts' forecasts and preliminary estimates. Meanwhile, core inflation decreased for the first time in 4 months.
According to the report, the consumer price index rose by 2.2% per year, as expected, after an increase of 2.6% per year in July. The August reading was the lowest since July 2021. European Union annual inflation was 2.4% in August, down from 2.8% in July.
Meanwhile, on a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 0.1% after being unchanged in July. Economists had expected a 0.2% increase
Eurostat reported that the core consumer price index - excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco - rose by 2.8% per year, slowing compared to July (+2.9%), and confirming experts' forecasts.
The data also showed that the highest contribution to the annual inflation rate came from services (+1.88%), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.46%), non-energy industrial goods (+0.11%) and energy (-0.29%).
The lowest annual rates were registered in Lithuania (0.8%), Latvia (0.9%), Ireland, Slovenia and Finland (all 1.1%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (5.3%), Belgium (4.3%) and Poland (4.0%).