Inflation turns negative in December

Cyprus` annual inflation rate turned negative at -0.4% in December 2017 (from 0.2% in November 2017 and 0.1% in December 2016), while Euro area annual inflation was 1.4% in the same month, also moving downwards from 1.5% in November. In December 2016, the rate was 1.1%.

European Union annual inflation was 1.7% in December 2017, down from 1.8% in November. A year earlier the rate was 1.2%, according to Eurostat figures, the statistical office of the European Union.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Cyprus (-0.4%), Ireland and Finland (both 0.5%) and Denmark (0.8%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Lithuania and Estonia (both 3.8%) and the United Kingdom (3.0%). Compared with November 2017, annual inflation fell in twenty-three Member States, remained stable in four and rose in one. The largest upward impacts to the euro area annual inflation came from fuels for transport (+0.11 percentage points), tobacco (+0.06 pp) and milk, cheese & eggs (+0.05 pp), while telecommunication (-0.10 pp), garments and vegetables (-0.05 pp each) had the biggest downward impacts.