Energy prices rose by 15.4 percent in August.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Consumer prices in the euro zone climbed by 3.0 percent within a year in August, the European statistics agency Eurostat announced on Friday, thus confirming an earlier estimate. This is the highest rate since November 2011.
The lowest inflation rates were measured in Malta (0.4 percent), Greece (1.2 percent) and Portugal (1.3 percent). The strongest price increases were in Estonia and Lithuania with 5.0 percent each. In Germany, the inflation rate based on the rate used for the European comparison (HICP) was 3.4 percent.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is aiming for an inflation rate of 2.0 percent in the medium term. In July, inflation was 2.2 percent above the ECB target.
According to a media report, the European Central Bank (ECB) could achieve this inflation target by 2025. ECB chief economist Philip Lane explained this in a private conversation with German economists, reported the “Financial Times” (FT). Lane had told economists that the ECB’s medium-term reference scenario showed that inflation should land at two percent shortly after the end of the current forecast period.
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In August, energy prices in particular provided a boost, which had plummeted in the previous year due to the consequences of the corona pandemic. However, from the point of view of ECB boss Christine Lagarde, the soaring inflation rates will remain a temporary phenomenon.
The ECB assumes that inflation will continue to rise in autumn, but will subside next year. The central bank’s economists expect inflation of 1.7 percent for 2022 and 1.5 percent for 2023.
The increase in August was higher than the ECB itself had expected. ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said in an interview with Handelsblatt at the end of July that the central bank expected inflation in the euro area to peak “in November at around 3.0 percent”. This value has now been reached – and economists expect a further increase by the end of the year.
More: Why economists did not expect the massive price increase
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