Annual inflation in the euro area was 0.7 percent in October this year, down from 1.1 percent recorded in September, according to a report released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. A year earlier, the annual inflation rate was 2.5 percent. Meanwhile, monthly inflation was -0.1 percent in October this year.

Meanwhile, in the European Union (EU-28) annual inflation was 0.9 percent in October, down from 1.3 percent recorded in September. In the same month of the previous year, the annual inflation rate in the EU-27 was 2.6 percent, while monthly inflation was -0.1 percent in October this year.

In October, annual inflation in the EU-28 fell in 23 states, remained stable in one, and increased in four state as compared with September of the current year. In October, the lowest annual inflation rates were observed in Greece (-1.9%), Bulgaria (-1.1%) and Cyprus (-0.5%), and the highest in Estonia (2.2%), the UK (2.2%) and Finland (1.7%).

The lowest 12-month averages up to the end of October this year were registered in Greece (-0.4%), Latvia (0.3%) and Sweden (0.5%), and the highest in Romania (3.7%), Estonia (3.5%) and the Netherlands and Croatia (both with 2.9%).