The already high inflation in the eurozone continues to rise. In September, consumer prices rose by 10.0 percent compared to the same month last year, as reported by the Eurostat statistics office in Luxembourg on Friday. It is the strongest increase since the euro was introduced as book money in 1999. Analysts had expected an inflation rate of 9.7 percent. In the previous month, consumer prices had risen by 9.1 percent, which was already a record.
Inflation was again driven by the very strong increase in energy prices, which rose by 40.8 percent compared to the same month last year. Food and beverages also increased significantly by 11.8 percent. Industrial goods were 5.6 percent more expensive than a year earlier, and 4.3 percent more had to be paid for services. Core inflation excluding energy, food and beverages increased from 4.3 to 4.8 percent. The three Baltic states again had the highest inflation rates in the currency area at more than 20 percent. Consumer prices rose by 24.2 percent in Estonia, 22.5 percent in Lithuania and 22.4 percent in Latvia. In Germany, the inflation rate calculated according to European standards was 10.9 percent.
The ECB will probably aim for a large rate hike
With the unexpectedly strong surge in inflation in September, another jumbo interest rate hike by the European Central Bank (ECB) at the next interest rate meeting in October is becoming increasingly likely. Most recently, numerous currency watchdogs had declared that an interest rate hike of 0.75 percentage points should be on the agenda. Because the inflation target of the ECB is now becoming more and more distant. The inflation rate is now five times higher than the central bank’s target of two percent.
Energy prices shot up particularly sharply in September. Energy prices rose by 40.8 percent within a year. In August, the increase was still 38.6 percent. Food, alcohol and tobacco prices rose 11.8 percent from 10.6 percent in August. Non-energy industrial goods rose 5.6 percent from 5.1 percent in August. The surge in prices also increased for services. They went up 4.3 percent in September after 3.8 percent in August.
hb/tko (rtr,dpa)
