Thus, the spread between the highest and lowest inflation rate according to the Harmonised Consumer Price Index, which had been 0.7 percentage point in January 1998, rose to an average of 2 percentage points during 1999 (between Ireland with 2.5 % and Austria with 0.5 %).
Last year, the spread between the average annual inflation rates increased to as much as 3.5 percentage points (between Ireland with 5.3 % and France with 1.8 %). However, the maximum spread might be said to overstate the differences between inflation rates, inasmuch as it looks only at the two countries with the largest inflation differential.