Enlarge image
Gas meter: Energy costs in particular are increasing dramatically
Photo:
imago stock&people / imago/Christian Ohde
Inflation in the euro area has reached a record high.
High energy costs remain the strongest driver of inflation.
In March, consumer prices rose by 7.5 percent year-on-year, according to the statistics office Eurostat on Friday.
The inflation rate in the euro area has never been higher since the introduction of the common currency in 1999.
Analysts were surprised by the strength of the price jump.
Experts surveyed by the Reuters news agency had only expected 6.6 percent.
The European Central Bank had also expected 6.6 percent.
Inflation was again driven by an extremely sharp increase in energy prices, which rose by 44.7 percent compared to the same month last year.
Food and beverages were 5.0 percent more expensive in March than a year ago.
Excluding Energy, Food & Beverages, core consumer price inflation rose to 3.0 percent in March from 2.7 percent in the previous month.
Core inflation is less volatile and is therefore considered by many economists to be a more reliable measure of inflation trends.
The medium-term inflation target of the European Central Bank (ECB) of two percent is clearly exceeded with the figure of 7.5 percent.
Some experts were alarmed: »Now it is important that the ECB finally takes its foot off the gas.
Otherwise, inflation expectations will continue to rise, and high inflation will become permanent,” warned Commerzbank chief economist Jörg Krämer.
»Inflation becomes a
permanent guest«
Analysts cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic situation in the Far East as reasons for the rise in prices.
"The war in Ukraine and the return of the corona pandemic in China will keep the price pressure up," said Alexander Krüger, chief economist at Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe, "inflation will become a permanent guest".
Inflation is also evident in Germany.
On Wednesday, the Federal Statistical Office announced in a first estimate that the inflation rate in the country is expected to have risen to 7.3 percent compared to the same month last year.
It thus reached its highest level for more than 40 years.
Sol/dpa/Reuters