Article · Money and markets · Lithuania
Why is inflation 5.6 percent in Lithuania and 1.3 percent in Estonia if the currency is the same?
The interest rate is shared, the prices are not. In Eurostat's final figures for August 2026, annual inflation was 5.6 percent in Lithuania, the highest in the euro area, 1.3 percent in Estonia, one of the lowest in the European Union, and 3.2 percent on euro area average. The gap of 4.3 percentage points comes from the dates of tax changes and from energy and services prices, not from ECB decisions, because the ECB decision is identical for both countries.
On September 17 Eurostat published the final inflation figures for August 2026. Lithuania and Estonia sit at opposite ends of the same table, although both use the euro and both live under the same ECB rate.