BRUSSELS, Feb 25 (KUNA) -- The European Statistical Office (Eurostat) announced on Wednesday that the annual inflation rate in the Euro Area declined to 1.7 percent in January 2026, compared to 2.0 percent in December, while it had stood at 2.5 percent in January 2025.
The data issued by the Eurostat office indicated that the annual inflation rate in the European Union also decreased to 2.0 percent in January 2026, down from 2.3 percent in December, whereas it had reached 2.8 percent in the same month a year earlier.
The office noted that the lowest annual inflation rates were recorded in France at 0.4 percent, followed by Denmark at 0.6 percent, then both Finland and Italy at 1.0 percent each.
In contrast, the highest inflation rates were registered in Romania at 8.5 percent, followed by Slovakia at 4.3 percent and Estonia at 3.8 percent.
Statistics showed that, compared with December 2025, annual inflation fell in 23 Member States, remained stable in one country and increased in three others.
Regarding inflation components in the euro area in January 2026, the data indicated that the services sector recorded the highest annual inflation at 1.45 percent, followed by food, alcohol and tobacco at 0.51 percent. Prices of non-energy industrial goods rose annually by 0.09 percent, while energy made a negative contribution of minus 0.39 percentage points. (end) arn.bb