opinion | Inflation is first and foremost a budgetary crisis: how to fight?

The normalization of rates took place in record time. In 2023, the government will have to raise at least 270 billion euros to finance its needs (out of a total outstanding debt approaching 3,000 billion). The annual bill for interest alone will have risen by more than 8 billion euros for these issues alone if the rise in rates stops there, an unlikely hypothesis. On the eve of an announced economic crisis, the ECB seems overwhelmed.

Inflation is not short-lived. Tensions on energy prices arose in May 2021 with the post-lockdown economic catch-up. Some governments have seen inflation as a handy transitory tax on both lower incomes and upper class savings. Serious error, because this danger quickly became uncontrollable.