According to data released on Monday by the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, the annual inflation rate in Portugal in July was -0.7%, compared to 0.7% in June this year and 2.2% on July 2018.

The EU average stood at 1.4% in July this year, down on the previous month (when the annual inflation rate was 1.6%) and on the same month last year (it had been 2.2%).

In the euro area, the trend was downwards, with an annual inflation rate of 1% in July, below the percentage in June of this year (1.3%) and July 2018 (2.2%).

Following Portugal, which leads the list of countries with the lowest annual inflation rate in July, are Cyprus (0.1%) and Italy (0.3%), while the highest percentages are Romania (4.1%), Hungary (3.3%) and Slovakia (3%).

Inflation refers to the general increase in the prices of goods and services.

Compared to June of this year, annual inflation fell in July in a total of 15 EU member states, remaining stable in the other two and rising in the remaining eleven.

According to Eurostat, inflation in services, food products, alcohol and tobacco, as well as industrial goods and energy, are contributing to these results in the euro area.