BRUSSELS – Eurozone consumer prices skyrocketed by a record 10% in September, official data showed today, as inflation reached double digits on the back of soaring energy prices caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Stoked by a staggering 40.8% rise in energy prices, the yearly inflation rate in the 19-country single currency area hit its highest level since records began, according to Eurostat.
The historic level of inflation will encourage the European Central Bank (ECB) to stay on its current path of rate hikes, in an effort to cool prices despite the risk of triggering economic recession in Europe.
The leap to 10% followed a 9.1% rise in August and doused hopes that inflation would begin to ease as energy markets stabilise seven months after Russia launched its war.
Making matters more complicated for policymakers, the eurozone’s powerhouse economies showed widely divergent inflation rates, with Germany seeing price hikes of 10.8% and France at 6.2%.
This may raise questions over whether the ECB should go ahead with another hefty rate hike of 0.75 percentage points at its next meeting on October 27.
Energy prices in Europe remain under intense pressure with Russia starving the continent of gas supply as winter approaches. – AFP, September 30, 2022
