Eurostat today, published figures on the euro area annual inflation rate.
European Union annual inflation was 2.1% in August 2018, down from 2.2% in July. A year earlier, the rate was 1.7%.
In Cyprus, annual inflation increased to 1.7% in August 2018, up form 1.4% in July 2018 and 0.5% a year earlier.
The lowest annual rates were registered in Denmark (0.8%), Ireland and Greece (both 0.9%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (4.7%), Bulgaria (3.7%), Estonia (3.5%) and Hungary (3.4%).
Compared with July 2018, annual inflation fell in 12 Member States, remained stable in five and rose in ten. In August 2018, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+0.87 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+0.59 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.48 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.09 pp).
The job vacancy rate in Cyprus was 1.4% in Q2 2018, up from 1.2% in Q1 2018 and the Q2 of 2017 (0.8 %) according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
More specifically the job vacancy rate stood at 1.3% in the industry and construction sectors and at 1.8% in the services sector.
Meanwhile the same rate in the euro area (EA19) was 2.1% in the second quarter of 2018, stable compared with the previous quarter and up from 1.9% in the second quarter of 2017,. In the EU28, the job vacancy rate was 2.2% in the second quarter of 2018, stable compared with the previous quarter and up from 2.0% in the second quarter of 2017.
In the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2018 was 1.9% in industry and construction, and 2.4% in services. In the EU28, the rate was 2.1% in industry and construction, and 2.5% in services.
Among the Member States for which comparable data are available, the highest job vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2018 were recorded in the Czech Republic (5.4%), Belgium (3.5%), the Netherlands (3.1%) and Germany (2.9%). In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Greece (0.7%), Bulgaria Spain and Portugal (all 0.9%).
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2018 rose in twenty Member States, remained stable in Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Romania, but fell in Estonia (-0.3 percentage points – pp).
The largest increases were registered in the Czech Republic (+1.8 pp), Latvia (+0.8 pp), Cyprus (+0.6 pp), Hungary, the Netherlands and Finland (all +0.5 pp).
