Consumer prices in Greece rose 2.7% in July from a year earlier, down from 3.9% in June, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency.
Annual inflation across the 20 countries that use the euro rose to 2.9% in July from 2.8% in June, while the rate for the full 27 member European Union climbed to 3% from 2.9%, Eurostat said.
What drove eurozone prices higher
Within the eurozone figure, services prices added 1.55 percentage points to the annual inflation rate, the largest single contribution. Energy costs added another 0.94 percentage points, while non energy industrial goods and food, alcohol and tobacco each contributed 0.23 percentage points, according to Eurostat’s breakdown of the main components.
Where prices rose fastest, and slowest
Inflation varied widely across the bloc. Sweden recorded the lowest annual rate, at 0.3%, followed by the Czech Republic at 1.3% and Denmark and Hungary, both at 1.6%.
Romania posted the highest annual rate, at 8.2%, ahead of Lithuania at 5.4% and Cyprus and Bulgaria, both at 4.4%.
Compared with June, annual inflation fell in 15 EU member states, held steady in three and rose in nine, Eurostat’s figures showed.
Britain sees inflation rise too
Inflation in the United Kingdom hit a four month high in July, climbing to 2.9% from 2.6% in June and piling more pressure on households already squeezed by rising energy bills. That leaves Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government, which took office in July succeeding Keir Starmer, under growing pressure to find ways to ease costs for consumers.
The jump came as British households absorbed the steepest summer increase in energy bills in four years, a spike tied to shockwaves in global energy markets from the war in the Middle East.
