EU, euro area inflation rates continue to rise in July

Inflation in the euro area continued to rise in July, climbing to 0.4 percent from 0.3 percent measured in June, but remained lower than the annual rate of 1 percent in July 2019, figures released by Eurostat on Wednesday showed, reported Xinhua.

Meanwhile, annual inflation rate in the whole European Union (EU) stood at 0.9 percent in July, up from 0.8 percent a month ago. In June 2019, the rate stood at 1.4 percent, said the EU's statistical office.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Greece (-2.1 percent), Cyprus (-2.0 percent) and Estonia (-1.3 percent). The highest annual rates were recorded in Hungary (3.9 percent), Poland (3.7 percent) and Czechia (3.6 percent).

The highest contribution to the inflation rate came from non-energy industrial goods and services (both +0.42 percentage points), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (+0.38 percentage points) and energy (-0.83 percentage points).