June 20 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria recorded annual inflation of 13.4% in May, according to provisional data, marking the highest increase in consumer prices among the EU member states in Southeast Europe (SEE) and the fifth-highest in the bloc, the EU's statistical office said.
On a monthly comparison basis, Slovenia posted the highest rate of increase in consumer prices among the EU's members in SEE last month, of 2.0%, Eurostat said in a statement on Friday.
Bulgaria followed second, with a monthly increase of 1.3%.
At 8.7%, or just 0.1 percentage point below the EU average, Slovenia also registered the lowest rate of annual inflation among the EU members from SEE.
Europe's lowest annual inflation rates were registered in France and Malta, both at 5.8%, and Finland with 7.1%. At the other end of the spectrum, the Baltic countries recorded the highest annual rates of inflation -- Estonia with 20.1%, Lithuania with 18.5% and Latvia with 16.8%.
Below is data on last month's inflation rates measured by the Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) in EU member states in SEE:
|
May annual rate |
May monthly rate |
Bulgaria |
13.4 |
1.3 |
Croatia |
10.7 |
1.2 |
Greece |
10.5 |
0.9 |
Romania |
12.4 |
1.2 |
Slovenia |
8.7 |
2.0 |
EU average |
8.8 |
1.0 |
source: Eurostat