Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 1.4 per cent in June 2010 according to a flash estimate issued on June 30 by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. It was 1.6 per cent in May, Eurostat said Earlier, on June 14, the National Statistical Institute in Sofia said that inflation in Bulgaria had continued to increase, to 1.9 per cent on a 12-month basis in May 2010 from 1.8 per cent in April. The figure was 1.3 per cent in March. On a monthly basis, however, consumer prices fell by 0.2 per cent, Dnevnik quoted the National Statistical Institute as saying. Food and non-alcoholic drinks staged the sharpest drop in prices, shedding 0.9 per cent. In the transport sector, there was an increase of 1.4 per cent in May compared with April.