The inflation rate in the European Union climbed to a record 8.1 percent in April, three-tenths of a percentage point higher than in March. The European statistics office Eurostat said in a report on Wednesday.
The Czech Republic has the third-highest inflation rate among EU member states, at 13.2 percent in April. In the eurozone, inflation remained at 7.4 percent.
In the eurozone, energy (+3.70 percentage points), services (+1.38 points), and the food, alcohol, and tobacco category (+1.35 points) contributed the most to annual inflation. Non-energy industrial goods contributed 1.02 percentage points.
Last April, the EU inflation rate stood at two percent. In euro-paying countries, it was 1.6 percent. Month-on-month, prices increased by 0.8 percent in the EU and 0.6 percent in the euro area.
This April, France and Malta had the lowest inflation at 5.4 percent, followed by Finland (5.8 percent) and Italy (6.3 percent).
On the other hand, the highest inflation was in Estonia (19.1 percent), Lithuania (16.6 percent), and the Czech Republic. It is also above 10 percent in Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, the Netherlands, and Slovakia.
Compared to March, annual inflation fell in three Member States, remained unchanged in two, and increased in the remaining 22.