Eurozone inflation climbed to a record high of 8.9% in July and a record 9.8% in the EU

More than half of the Twenty-seven recorded double-digit price increases

MADRID, 18 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The year-on-year inflation rate in the euro zone stood at 8.9% in July, compared to 8.6% registered in June, which represents the highest increase in prices in the euro region in the entire historical series and more than four times the price stability target of 2% of the European Central Bank (ECB), as confirmed by the community statistics office, Eurostat.

In the European Union (EU) as a whole, the interannual inflation rate for July reached a new all-time high of 9.8%, two tenths above the June reading. In July 2021, the increase in prices among the Twenty-seven was 2.5% year-on-year.

In this way, the inflationary pressure in the euro area and the EU was in July below that registered in the United Kingdom, where prices rose by 10.1%, after the rise of 9.4% in June, but exceeded United States, where inflation moderated to 8.5%, six tenths below the 9.1% observed in June.

The rise in prices in the euro zone intensified in the seventh month of 2022, despite the fact that the year-on-year increase in the price of energy slowed to 39.6% from 42% in June, while the increase in the price of fresh food in July was 11.1%, when in June it had been 11.2%.

However, services became more expensive by 3.7% year-on-year in July, three tenths more than the previous month, while the prices of non-energy industrial goods rose by 4.5%, compared to 4.3% in the previous month .

Excluding the impact of energy from the calculation, the year-on-year inflation rate in the euro zone stood at 5.4% in July, compared to 4.9% in the previous month, while also excluding the effect of prices of fresh food, alcohol and tobacco, the core inflation rate has reached a record 4%, three tenths more than in June.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided at its last meeting, held in July, to raise interest rates by 50 basis points, in its first rise in the price of money since 2011, in addition to warning that it will undertake more increases in future meetings.

In the month of July, a total of 16 countries of the 27 that make up the EU registered double-digit price increases, including ten of the 19 members of the euro zone.

The highest levels of inflation have been observed in Estonia (23.2%), Latvia (21.3%) and Lithuania (20.9%), while the least intense increases in prices were registered in France, Malta ( both 6.8%) and Finland (8%).

In addition to the three Baltic countries, seven other eurozone members posted double-digit price increases, including Slovakia (+12.8%); Slovenia (11.7%); Netherlands (11.6%); Greece (11.3%); Spain (10.7%); Cyprus (10.6%); and Belgium (10.4%).

Among the rest of the EU countries that are not part of the euro zone, the highest price increases in July corresponded to the Czech Republic (17.3%), Bulgaria (14.9%), Hungary (14.7%), Poland (14.2%), Romania (13%) and Croatia (12.7%).

In the case of Spain, the harmonized inflation rate stood at 10.7% in July, compared to 10% in June, widening the unfavorable price differential with respect to the eurozone average to 1.8 percentage points.