The annual rate of consumer-price inflation in the eurozone increased to double digits in October, reaching a record and highlighting the challenges facing the European Central Bank after it signaled a coming slowdown in the pace of its rate increases.
The broad measure of consumer prices has risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s decision to throttle natural gas supplies to Europe to undermine Western support for Kyiv. By mid-September, Russia had cut its supplies by 80% of their year-earlier total.
Europe has had to look elsewhere for gas supplies, and paid much higher prices. While storage levels are now high, and gas prices on world markets have fallen from their peaks, household energy bills lag behind those moves and are much higher than a year earlier, as are food prices.
As a result of these pressures, inflation in the region has overtaken the level in the U.S. Now it is fueling demand for higher pay in the most affected countries, which could in turn feed into further price rises.
[This is why Europe never should have allowed itself to get addicted to cheap Russian energy imports. They are paying the price for very bad policy choices — literally. — Ed]
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