Euro-zone annual inflation was 2.2 percent in December 2005, down from 2.3 percent in November 2005 and 2.4 percent in December 2004, said Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union (EU), on Thursday.

Month on month, inflation was 0.3 percent in December, said Eurostat.

The main components with the highest annual rates in December 2005 were housing (5.1 percent), transport (4.5 percent) and alcohol and tobacco (2.7 percent), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communication (-2.8 percent), recreation and culture (0.1 percent) and clothing (0.3 percent).

Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport had the largest upward impact on the headline rate (+0.36 percentage points), followed by heating oil (+0.18 points) and gas (+0.15 points), while telecommunications and garments had the biggest downward impacts with -0.15 and -0.13 percentage points.

For the 25 members of the EU, annual inflation was 2.1 percent in December 2005, down from 2.2 percent in November 2005 and 2.4 percent in December 2004. Monthly inflation was also 0.3 percent in December 2005.

The lowest annual rates were observed in Poland (0.8 percent), Finland (1.1 percent), Sweden (1.3 percent) and Cyprus (1.4 percent) ; the highest rates were found in Latvia (7.1 percent), Slovakia (3. 9 percent), Spain (3.7 percent) and Estonia (3.6 percent).

Compared with November 2005, annual inflation rose in 10 member states, remained stable in three and fell in 11.

The lowest 12-month averages up to December 2005 were in Finland and Sweden (0.8 percent each), the Netherlands (1.5 percent), the Czech Republic (1.6 percent) and Denmark (1.7 percent); the highest were in Latvia (6.9 percent), Estonia (4.1 percent), Luxembourg (3. 8 percent), Greece and Hungary (both 3.5 percent).

In terms of the integrated European Index of Consumer Prices, the EU's annual inflation was 2.1 percent in December 2005.

Source: Xinhua