Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania with Highest Inflation in EU

Bulgaria is one of three EU member states that registered the highest 12-month inflation averages up to February 2009, the European Union announced Monday.

The lowest 12-month averages up to February 2009 were registered in the Netherlands and Portugal (both 2.2%) and Germany (2.4%), and the highest in Latvia (14.1%), Bulgaria and Lithuania (both 10.8%), the EU’s statistical office Eurostat said. In Romania, Bulgaria’s neighbor, which also joined the European Union in 2007, the inflation rate stood at 7.8%.

In February 2009, the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland and Portugal (both 0.1%) and Cyprus (0.6%),

The inflation rate in euro zone countries edged up to 1.2 % in February, up from 1.1% in January. A year earlier the rate was 3.3%. Inflation in the broader 27-nation European Union bucked the eurozone trend, easing to 1.7 % in February from 1.8 % in January.

Employment in the European Union declined 0.3 % in the fourth quarter of 2008 after a loss of 0.1% in the third quarter due to the worsening of the economic conditions. The first quarter of 2008 had seen a 0.4 % rise.

In Bulgaria the employment rate increased by 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2008 over the same period the previous year.