Figures published by Eurostat showed that the euro area annual inflation rate was 1.3% in December 2019, up from 1.0% in November. A year earlier, the rate was 1.5%.

European Union annual inflation was 1.6% in December 2019, up from 1.3% in November. A year earlier, the rate was 1.6%.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Portugal (0.4%), Italy (0.5%) and Cyprus (0.7%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Hungary (4.1%), Romania (4.0%), Czechia and Slovakia (both 3.2%). Compared with November, annual inflation fell in two Member States, remained stable in three and rose in twenty-three.

In December, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from services (+0.80 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.38 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+0.12 pp) and energy (+0.02 pp).