Inflation in the euro zone maintained its upward trend in November to reach record levels, driven by energy prices, according to figures released by the European statistics office Eurostat.
According to the latest report, annual inflation in the region closed November with an acceleration of 4.9%, the highest level registered by that office in its entire historical series.
The previous month, the 17 countries that make up the region averaged 4.1 percent inflation.
When looking at the components of inflation, energy had an annual increase of 27.4% in November, against 23.7% registered the previous month.
Services, on the other hand, experienced an increase of 2.7% (against 2.1% in October), and the food, tobacco and alcohol group rose 2.2% (against 1.9% in the previous month).
Among the main economies of the eurozone, Germany registered an inflation of 6.0%, followed by Spain (5.6%), Italy (4.0%) and France (3.4 percent).
The highest level was recorded in Lithuania, with 9.3%, followed by Estonia (8.4%) and Belgium (7.1%).
At the other extreme, Malta appears with the lowest annual inflation with a record of 2.3%, while that of Portugal was 2.7 percent.
Perspectives
This scenario occurs at a time when the coronavirus pandemic surprised with a new variant (Ómicron), although at the moment its economic impact is not clear.
For Jack Allen Reynolds, senior economist at the consulting firm Capital Economics, Ómicron’s impact on countries will be varied but added that if it “exacerbates the imbalances between global supply and demand, inflation of goods could be higher for longer.” .
The specialist added that the data reported in November was higher than the consensus that placed the figure at around 4.5 percent.
The most serious data, said Allen Reynolds, is that the Eurostat numbers indicate that the core of inflation (which excludes energy, tobacco, food and alcohol) rose 2.6 percent.
For this reason, the Capital Economics expert pointed out that “it will take at least until the last quarter” of next year for inflation to fall below the 2 percent target.
Recently, a senior European Central Bank official, Isabel Schnabel, said that by November she expected inflation to reach its highest level since the introduction of the euro as a currency in 1999.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx