February 3 (SeeNews) - Romania posted the highest annual increase in the industrial producer price index (PPI) among EU member states in Southeast Europe (SEE) in December, at 41.9%, compared to an average EU-wide rise of 25.2%, the bloc's statistical office said on Friday.
With a yearly PPI growth of 15.6% in the review period, Greece ranked the lowest out of the five EU member states in SEE, Eurostat said in a monthly report. Bulgaria was the only SEE country aside from Romania to come in above the EU average, at 28.5%.
In monthly terms, Bulgaria posted the second-highest PPI increase in the EU in December, of 6.0%, against the bloc average of 1.2%. The country was preceded only by Ireland, where industrial producer prices surged by 43.2%.
In contrast, Croatia came in second in the EU in terms of monthly PPI decline in the month under review, at 2.6%, while Portugal was first with a decrease of 3.2%.
Below are percentage changes in the PPI of EU member states in SEE in December:
EU member state |
Dec y/y |
Dec m/m |
Bulgaria |
28.5 |
6.0 |
Croatia |
20.0 |
-2.6 |
Greece |
15.6 |
-0.7 |
Romania |
41.9 |
1.0 |
Slovenia |
23.3 |
0.6 |
EU average |
25.2 |
1.2 |
Source: Eurostat