December 5 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria registered the sharpest year-on-year increase in industrial producer prices among EU member states in Southeast Europe (SEE) in October, of 55.5%, which was significantly above the EU average of 31.2%, the bloc's statistical office said.
In monthly comparison terms, however, Bulgaria was the only EU member state in SEE where the PPI index fell in October, by 8.8%, Eurostat said in a monthly report on Friday.
This was also the second-highest rate of decline across the 27-member bloc, with the strongest drop of 32.5% registered in Ireland, compared with an average EU-wide decrease of 2.5%.
By contrast, the EU's largest monthly PPI rises were seen in Greece, Hungary and Belgium, with 9.6%, 6.2% and 2.8%, respectively.
Year-on-year, Bulgaria was fourth in terms of industrial producer price index (PPI) growth across the EU as a whole, preceded only by Hungary with 68%, Slovakia - 59.3% and Latvia - 57.9%.
Romania was the only other SEE country in the EU with an annual rate of PPI increase above 50%. Croatia, for its part, posted the smallest yearly rise in production prices.
Below are the percentage changes in the PPI of EU member states in SEE in October:
EU member state |
Oct y/y |
Oct m/m |
Bulgaria |
55.5 |
-8.8 |
Croatia |
23.7 |
1.0 |
Greece |
36.0 |
9.6 |
Romania |
53.8 |
2.6 |
Slovenia |
25.2 |
0.3 |
EU average |
31.2 |
-2.5 |
Source: Eurostat.