The pickup in inflation rates around the world will be longer-lasting and sharper than previously anticipated, with a growing risk that households and businesses grow accustomed to faster price rises, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its latest forecasts for the global economy.

But the Paris-based research body’s chief economist also warned that should the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus sidestep existing vaccines, the world economy could face a sharper slowdown than previously expected and a round of price declines similar to those seen in the early months of the pandemic.

Releasing the last of its four reports on the economic outlook this year, the OECD said it now expects consumer-price inflation in the U.S. to average 4.4% in 2022, up from 3.1% when it last released forecasts in September. It said it now expects inflation in the eurozone to be 2.7%, up from 1.9%. The new forecasts were made before the discovery of the Omicron variant.