The inflation rate in the euro zone broke a new record in September, at 10% over one year, driven by energy prices but also by food prices, Eurostat announced on Friday 30 September. The figure is higher than forecasts by analysts from Bloomberg and Factset, who expected 9.7%.
Inflation had reached 9.1% on average in August for the 19 countries sharing the single European currency. These figures are the highest recorded by the European statistics office since the start of the publication of the indicator in January 1997.
Inflation driven by energy prices
The new surge in consumer prices in September put pressure on European energy ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday to adopt several emergency measures to help households and businesses, taken by the throat by the surge in bills. Since November 2021, consumer price inflation has reached a new all-time high every month, and the war in Ukraine is fueling soaring energy and food prices.
In an attempt to curb the phenomenon, the European Central Bank (ECB) raised its key rates by 0.75 percentage point in September, after a first increase in 11 years of 0.50 point announced in July. ECB President Christine Lagarde warned on Monday that she would raise rates further in the coming months.
Among the components of inflation in the euro zone, energy prices again experienced the highest annual increase, at 40.8% in September, after 38.6% in August. The surge in food prices (including alcohol and tobacco) accelerated further to 11.8%, against 10.6% in August.
Those of industrial goods and services, also accelerating, rose by 5.6% and 4.3% respectively, a sign that the shock caused by the rise in energy prices is gradually affecting the entire economy. .
Nearly 25% inflation in Estonia
Inflation rates are very divergent among the countries of the euro zone. France, protected by the government’s energy price cap measures, recorded the lowest level at 6.2% in September, while Germany was at 10.9%, according to harmonized data. from Eurostat.
The Baltic countries, particularly exposed to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, suffer from the highest inflation. It reached 24.2% in Estonia, 22.5% in Lithuania and 22.4% in Latvia.