This is the highest rate in the history of the currency. The inflation rate, which was determined in the first forecast, was corrected down by 0.1 percentage points.
Energy prices, which increased by 41.5 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, redirected inflation. Moreover, the increase in food and beverage prices accelerated from 11.8 percent in September to 13.1 percent in October. Prices of industrial goods also rose faster. Core inflation, which excludes particularly volatile goods such as energy and food, rose from 4.8 percent to 5.0 percent. Core inflation is considered by economists as a determinant for fundamental price developments.
Inflation rates in the monetary area are still very different. The Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are the countries with the highest depreciation of more than 20 percent each. France, Spain and Malta are at the other end of the scale with inflation rates below 8 percent in October. According to European figures, Germany is in the middle with 11.6 percent inflation.
The 2 percent inflation target of the European Central Bank (ECB) has long been clearly exceeded. After some hesitation, the ECB meanwhile increased its key interest rate significantly in response to the price shock. It remains to be seen whether it can sustain the high rate of tightening of 0.75 points in the last period. There is growing voice in financial markets expecting tightening to slow down soon. One reason is the strong economic headwind the currency felt due to the Ukraine war.
(SDA)