The growth of consumer prices in the European Union and the euro area in November picked up on the year, and Croatia was among the countries that saw a higher inflation rate after three months of even price growth, shows a report by Eurostat released on Wednesday.

The EU28 annual inflation rate, as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, picked up to 1.3% in November from 1.1% in October. In November 2018 it was 2%.

In the euro area, too, the inflation rate grew in November, to 1%, from 0.7% in the month before.

In the 19-member euro area inflation was thus almost halved compared to November 2018, when it stood at 1.9%, the level targeted by the European Central Bank.

The prices of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, as well as services, grew the most in November, by 1.9% each, after going up by 1.5% in October.

Energy prices dropped for the fourth consecutive month, by 3.2%, their biggest drop this year.

Annual inflation picks up in 20 EU countries

The annual inflation rate in Croatia as measured by the HICP in November was 0.8%, after it stood at 0.6% for the three previous months. The inflation rate in November 2018 was 1.3%.

The highest inflation rate was recorded by Romania, 3.8%, followed by Hungary (3.4%) and Slovakia (3.2%). The weakest annual consumer price growth was recorded by Italy and Portugal, 0.2%, and Belgium, 0.4%.

None of the countries saw a drop in prices on the year.

Along with Croatia, consumer prices grew in 19 other EU countries, remained unchanged in two and dropped in five.