Inflation in 19 countries that use the euro as their official currency rose by 5% on an annualized basis in December 2021, according to preliminary estimates from Eurostat. Thus, the record for the entire history of observations (since 1997), set in November 2021, was broken – then it was 4.9%.
The rise in consumer prices in December 2021 turned out to be higher than analysts’ forecasts: experts interviewed by Reuters had expected it to be at the level of 4.7%. For comparison: in December 2020, 0.3% deflation was recorded in the eurozone.
Energy prices have risen the most in Europe over the past year. According to Eurostat, in December they increased by 26% in annual terms. Prices for food, alcohol and tobacco rose by 3.2%, for manufactured goods – by 2.9%, services – 2.4%.
The highest estimated inflation in the euro area was recorded in Estonia (12%), Lithuania (10%) and Latvia (7.7%), the lowest – in Malta (2.6%), Portugal (2.8%) and Finland ( 3.2%).
According to preliminary data from Rosstat, inflation in Russia in 2021 will be 8.39% and will reach its maximum value in five years. In an attempt to contain the rise in prices, the Central Bank raised its key rate seven times last year, raising it to the level of 2017 – 8.5% per annum.
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