EU ANNUAL INFLATION SLIGHTLY UP AT 3% IN FEBRUARY 2012 – EUROSTAT

Annual inflation in February 2012 was 2.7 per cent in the 17-member euro zone and three per cent across the European Union, the latter figure up from 2.9 per cent in January, according to EU statistics office Eurostat.
Bulgaria's annual inflation in February 2012 was two per cent and Eurostat recorded a 12-month average for Bulgaria of three per cent.
Bulgaria's National Statistics Institute said earlier in its regular report on consumer price inflation in Bulgaria that prices in February 2012 were 0.9 per cent higher than in January 2012, with the increase driven mainly by food prices having risen.
According to Eurostat, the main drivers of inflation across the EU were rising prices of transport fuel, gas and heating oil.
Eurostat said that in February 2011, annual inflation in the EU was 2.9 per cent. Monthly inflation was 0.5 per cent in February 2012.
In February 2012, the lowest annual rates among EU member states were in Sweden (one per cent), Greece (1.7 per cent) and Spain (1.9 per cent), and the highest in Hungary (5.8 per cent), Estonia and Poland (both 4.4 per cent).
Compared with January 2012, annual inflation fell in nine EU member states, remained stable in five and rose in 11.
The lowest 12-month averages up to February 2012 were registered in Sweden (1.3 per cent), Slovenia (2.1 per cent) and Malta (2.3 per cent), and the highest in Romania (5.1 per cent) and Estonia (five per cent).