Latvian Inflation June

From Bloomberg:

Latvia's annual inflation rate rose to 8.8 percent in June, the highest in the European Union, as food prices advanced.

The rate rose from 8.2 percent in May, the Riga-based statistics office said on its Web site today, exceeding a median estimate of 8.4 percent by seven economists in a Bloomberg survey. Consumer prices rose a monthly 0.9 percent.

Inflation in the European Union's fastest-growing economy is accelerating more than four times the rate of the 13 nations that share the euro. Inflation has exceeded 6 percent for more than three years, forcing the government last year to abandon its 2008 target date to adopt the euro. Only Hungary's rate, at 8.5 percent in May, was higher in the 27-nation EU. Hungary reports inflation statistics for June on July 11.

Rising consumer prices forced all three Baltic states, former members of the Soviet Union, to alter their euro-adoption timetables.

Estonia said its inflation rate in June rose to a six-year high of 5.8 percent. Lithuania, which reports June figures tomorrow, saw consumer prices grow by 4.8 percent in May.

Latvia's economy grew 11.2 percent in the first quarter, the eighth consecutive three-month period the economy has expanded by more than 10 percent.