Will eurozone inflation accelerate to a new high?
Eurozone inflation has been rising for 10 consecutive months and most economists think it has further to go. Annual consumer price growth is expected to have accelerated in May, hitting its highest point since the single currency’s creation in 1999.
The fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent energy and commodity prices surging upward and added to global supply chain disruption, while the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions has boosted demand across Europe. All this has pushed inflation higher.
Economists polled by Reuters on average forecast the eurozone’s harmonised index of consumer prices would increase 7.7 per cent in the year to May, when these figures are published by Eurostat on Tuesday. That would be up from April’s record of 7.4 per cent.