Euro area annual inflation was 1.4% in May 2013, up from 1.2% in April. A year earlier the rate was 2.4%. Monthly inflation was 0.1% in May 2013. European Union annual inflation was 1.6% in May 2013, up from 1.4% in April. A year earlier the rate was 2.6%. Monthly inflation was 0.1% in May 2013.

In May 2013, the lowest annual rates were observed in Greece (-0.3%), Latvia (-0.2%) and Cyprus (0.2%), and the highest in Romania (4.4%), Estonia (3.6%) and the Netherlands (3.1%). Compared with April 2013, annual inflation rose in sixteen Member States, remained stable in six and fell in four. The lowest 12-month average rates up to May 2013 were registered in Greece (0.3%), Sweden (0.7%) and Latvia (1.1%), and the highest in Hungary and Romania (both 4.3%) and Estonia (3.9%).

The largest upward impacts on euro area annual inflation came from fruit and vegetables (+0.11 percentage points each) and electricity (+0.09), while fuels for transport (-0.28), telecommunications (-0.18) and medical & paramedical services (-0.08) had the biggest downward impacts.