Greece and Cyprus are the eurozone’s deflation leaders

Greece and Cyprus had the lowest consumer price index rates in the eurozone last month as the entire bloc saw prices reduced by 0.3% in September on an annual basis, Eurostat announced.

The flash year-on-year estimate released on Friday by the statistical office of the European Union compared with 0.2% deflation in August.

The lowest estimated annual inflation rates were in Greece (-2.3%), Cyprus (-1.9%) and Estonia (-1.3%), and the highest in Slovakia (1.5%), the Netherlands (1.0%) and Lithuania (0.6%).

Data collection for Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) has been affected by the Covid-19 crisis in all eurozone countries, Eurostat said. 

Among the main components, food, alcohol and tobacco are expected to have the highest annual rate in September at 1.8%, along with services at 0.5% and non-energy industrial goods at -0.3%.

Energy is expected to have a record -8.2% annual rate, down from -1.8% in September 2019.

The annual rate for services dropped from 1.5% in 2019 to 0.5% this year.

[Xinhua]