The European Union's annual inflation rate exceeded 10% in August 2022 to reach a new high, while Croatia's rate was above the EU and euro area averages, a Eurostat report showed on Friday.

The EU annual inflation rate was 10.1% in August 2022, the new highest level since the EU’s statistical office began compiling this data. In July, it stood at 9.8%.

The euro area annual inflation rate also reached its highest level in August 2022, increasing by 0.2 percentage points from July to was 9.1%.

Compared with August 2021, the inflation rate rose by 3.2% in the 27-member EU and by 3.0% in the 19-member euro area.

The record annual inflation rates were primarily the result of the continued rise in energy prices, of 38.6% in the euro area. Prices of food, alcohol and tobacco rose by 10.6% year on year.

The monthly inflation rate was 0.7% in the EU and 0.6% in the euro area.

Inflation surge in the Baltics

Fifteen EU member states, including Croatia, recorded double-digit annual inflation rates in August 2022, the Eurostat report shows.

The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (25.2%), Latvia (21.4%) and Lithuania (21.1%), while the lowest rates were registered in France (6.6%), Malta (7.0%) and Finland (7.9%).

In Croatia, annual inflation reached 12.6% in August 2022, close to 12.7% measured in the previous month. In August 2021, it was 3.1%.

Closest to Croatia were Romania (13.3%) and Slovenia (11.5%).

Croatia’s important trading partners Germany and Italy recorded inflation rates of 8.8% and 9.1% respectively.

Compared with July 2022, the annual inflation rate was higher in 15 EU member states and lower in the rest of the Union.