Euro-zone Inflation Rises; Sweden Jobless Rate Drops

Arthi Gupta
11 Mar, 2011
New York City

German wholesale price inflation accelerated in February. Inflation in euro area rose in February and economic growth was mixed. Swedish jobless rate fell in February. Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria lowered their estimates of quarterly GDP growths.

[R]1:05 PM Frankfurt – German wholesale price inflation accelerated in February. Inflation in euro area rose in February and economic growth was mixed. Swedish jobless rate fell in February. Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria lowered their estimates of quarterly GDP growths.[/R]

German Inflation, WPI Rise

Germany''s inflation rose to 2.1% in February from 2% in January, a final estimate from Destatis showed on Friday.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices climbed 0.5% in February.

German wholesale price inflation accelerated to 10.8% in February from 9.4% in January, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed. This was the biggest annual rate increase since October 1981, the statistics office said.

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices climbed 1.4% in February, following January''s 1.2% rise.

Spanish Inflation Rises

Spanish consumer price inflation rose to 3.6% in February from 3.3% in January, the statistics office INE said on Friday.

On a monthly basis, the increase in prices was 0.1% in February compared to a 0.7% fall in January.

Hungary’s GDP Expands, Inflation Accelerates

Hungary''s seasonally and calendar adjusted gross domestic product climbed 0.2% sequentially in the fourth quarter, following a 0.6% rise in the third quarter, latest data from the Central Statistics Office showed on Friday.

On an annual basis, calendar adjusted GDP rose 1.7% in the fourth quarter, which was downwardly revised from 1.8% growth reported initially.

Hungarian consumer price index rose 4.1% annually in February as against the 4% growth recorded in January, data released by the Hungarian Central Statistics Office showed today.

Food prices grew at a faster pace of 7.4%, while prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco advanced 1.2%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices advanced 0.4% in February compared to the 0.7% rise in January.

Czech GDP Up

Czech gross domestic product rose 0.3% on a quarterly basis in the fourth quarter after adjusting to seasonal and working-day effects, latest estimate from the Czech Statistics Office showed.

The GDP was revised down from 0.5% growth reported in the preliminary estimate.

Bulgaria GDP Improves

Bulgarian economy expanded 2.8% annually in the fourth quarter after adjusting to seasonal and calendar variations, latest estimates from the National Institute of Statistics showed on Friday.

The GDP was revised up from the previously estimated 2.1% expansion. In the third quarter, the gross domestic product grew 0.5% annually.

Italy GDP Growth Slows

The Italian economy expanded only 0.1% sequentially in the fourth quarter, from the 0.3% expansion seen in the third quarter, according to final data from the statistics office Istat released today. The statistics office confirmed the initial estimate released on February 15.

Swedish Jobless Rate Falls

Unemployment rate in Sweden fell marginally to 4.5% in February from 4.7% in January, a report from the Public Employment Service showed on Friday. This was less than the 5.4% recorded in February last year, AMV said.

At the end of February, 216,000 people registered as unemployed at the employment office.