Eurostat: Inflation in the EU and the Eurozone Increased in January on annual basis, with Bulgaria at 3.8%

Eurostat reported today, February 24, that the euro area annual inflation rate was 2.5% in January 2025, up from 2.4% in December 2024. This indicates an increase of 0.1 percentage points.

In January 2025, the highest contribution to annual inflation in the monetary union came from services (1.77 percentage points), followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco (0.45 p.p.), energy (0.18 p.p.), and non-energy industrial goods (0.12 p.p.).

Annual inflation in the European Union in January, compared to the same month in 2024, was 2.8%, up from 2.7% in December 2024. A year earlier, the rate was 3.1%.

The highest inflation in January compared to the first month of the previous year was recorded in Hungary (5.7%), Romania (5.3%), and Croatia (5.0%).

The lowest annual inflation rates were observed in Denmark (1.4%), Ireland (1.7%), and Italy (1.7%).

Bulgaria, whose annual inflation, measured by Eurostat’s harmonized methodology in January, was 3.8%, ranks eighth in terms of inflation rate.

On a monthly basis, prices in the eurozone decreased by 0.3% in January compared to December 2024, while monthly inflation in the EU remained unchanged.

The countries with the highest monthly inflation were Bulgaria and Slovakia (both at 1.8%) and Lithuania (1.6%).

The average annual increase in consumer prices in January in the eurozone countries with the lowest level of the harmonized consumer price index was 1.03%, derived from the indices of Lithuania (1.0%), Finland (1.0%), and Italy (1.1%). This brings the reference value for convergence to the eurozone to 2.53% (the mentioned average annual value plus 1.5 percentage points). In January, the average annual value of the harmonized index of prices in Bulgaria was 2.6%.

Source: BTA