According to the report from Eurostat, the euro area annual inflation rate was 2.2% in July 2021, up from 1.9% in June. A year earlier, the rate was 0.4%. The core figures rose by 0.7%, beating the 0.7% consensus forecasts.  European Union annual inflation was 2.5% in July 2021, up from 2.2% in June. A year earlier, the rate was 0.9%.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Malta (0.3%), Greece (0.7%) and Italy (1.0%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (4.9%), Poland and Hungary (both 4.7%). Compared with June, annual inflation fell in nine Member States, remained stable in two and rose in sixteen.

In July, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+1.34 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.35 pp), services (+0.31 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.17 pp).