EU inflation hits 5.2% in November

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The annual inflation rate hit 5.2% in the 27-member bloc in November, up from 4.1% in October.

A year earlier, the rate was minus 0.2% in the European Union, according to the statistical office Eurostat’s data on Friday.

On the eurozone side, the annual inflation increased from 4.1% to 4.9% month-on-month in November. It was minus 0.3% in November 2020.

The annual rate increased in almost all member countries in November.

The lowest rates were posted by Malta (2.4%), Portugal (2.6%), and France (3.4%) in the month.

“The highest annual rates were recorded in Lithuania (9.3%), Estonia (8.6%) and Hungary (7.5%),” the office said.

The energy sector was the main contributor to the inflation with 2.57 percentage points, followed by the services (1.15 percentage points), non-energy industrial goods (0.64 percentage points), and food-alcohol-tobacco (0.49 percentage points).