According to the report from the Eurostat, in December 2020, the euro area annual inflation was -0.3% for the fourth consecutive month. A year earlier, the rate was 1.3%. Core figures rose by 0.2% versus +0.2% previous and +0.2% expectations.

European Union annual inflation was 0.3% in December 2020, up from 0.2% in November. A year earlier, the rate was 1.6%. 

The lowest annual rates were registered in Greece (-2.4%), Slovenia (-1.2%) and Ireland (-1.0%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Poland (3.4%), Hungary (2.8%) and Czechia (2.4%). Compared with November, annual inflation fell in nine Member States, remained stable in eight and rose in ten.

In December, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from services (+0.30 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.25 pp), non-energy industrial goods (-0.14 pp) and energy (-0.68 pp).