Prices continue to run wild in the region, paving the way for more rate hikes by the European Central Bank (ECB)
If anyone thought that the price increase had peaked in August, nothing could be further from the truth. Eurozone inflation rose higher than expected to 10% in September, from 9.1% a month earlier. A fact that will undoubtedly force the European Central Bank (ECB) to maintain the pace of raising interest rates at its next meeting in October.
The so-called ‘hawks’, as the members of the organization’s board for a more aggressive policy are called, have been preparing the market for that possibility for some time. And also President Christine Lagarde herself, who has made it clear in her latest public speeches that fighting inflation will be a priority until the CPI approaches the medium-term target of 2%.
Against this background and following preliminary data released by Eurostart, the consensus expects the next move to raise interest rates to be another 75 basis points, as was the case at the organization’s previous meeting. It’s not just about stopping price escalation. The fact that the ECB has lagged the Federal Reserve (Fed) in raising interest rates has also led to a strong weakness of the euro against the dollar, which is a major concern for the institution.
According to the Community Statistical Office, the September price increase cannot be attributed to one single factor. Everything has gone up in general. Energy prices, still the main drivers of the tariff, rose 40.8% in the ninth month of the year, compared to a 38.6% increase in August.
However, the prices of food, alcohol and tobacco rose by 11.8%, which represents an acceleration of 1.2 points compared to price increases in the previous month. Services registered an inflation of 4.3%, five tenths more; while non-energy industrial goods accelerated five tenths to 5.6%.
Excluding fresh food and energy, core inflation also set a record, rising to 4.8%, five tenths more than in August.
If the data is analyzed by country, the only good news is that in harmonized terms Spain has achieved a favorable price differential of seven-tenths against the eurozone, as inflation stood at 9.3% in September, compared to 10.5% in August (comparable in these terms to the rest of the region’s economies).
But the evils of many can be no comfort to economies that have been threatened for months by the upward price spiral. In September, ten of the 19 eurozone countries posted double-digit inflation, with Estonia (24.2%), Lithuania (22.5%) and Latvia (22.4%) showing the worst-case scenario, while the least strong increases were recorded. observed in France (6.2%), Malta (7.3%) and Finland (8.4%).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
