Euro area annual inflation drops in August

The annual inflation in the euro area is expected to be -0.2 percent in August, down from 0.4 percent in July, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, said in its flash estimate on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

Food, alcohol and tobacco is expected to have an inflation rate of 1.7 percent, the highest among all categories, although it is down from 2.0 percent in July. Energy is to witness an annual rate of -7.8 percent, the lowest by category.

Among all 19 euro countries, Cyprus is expected to see the lowest annual inflation rate of -2.9 percent in August, followed by Greece with -2.1 percent. Slovakia is expected to have the highest inflation rate of 1.5 percent, followed by Lithuania at 1.2 percent.

In August, European countries continued to relax the COVID-19 restrictions, but some regions reintroduced containment rules due to a rise of infections.