According to the European statistical agency Eurostat, the growth of consumer prices in the eurozone in January accelerated to 5.1% in annual terms. This has become a record value since the beginning of the calculation of the inflation rate in the eurozone in 1999. The previous record was recorded in December 2021, when annual inflation was 5%. Analysts, on the contrary, expected inflation to slow down to 4.4%. Experts note that the main factor in accelerating inflation in the euro area remains a record increase in energy prices. The increase in their value, according to preliminary estimates, in January will be 28.6% in annual terms (after 25.9% in December). The growth of prices for food, alcohol and tobacco also accelerated in January – to 3.6% after 3.2% in December. Inflation in the service sector remained the same at 2.4%, the price increase for non-energy industrial goods decreased to 2.3%. The highest inflation rate was recorded in Lithuania (12.2% compared to 10.7% in December) and Estonia (11.7% compared to 12% in December). The lowest inflation rate is in France (3.3%). In Germany, inflation fell to 5.1% compared with 5.7% in December. At the same time, core annual inflation slowed to 2.3% from 2.6% in December 2021. It also follows from the Eurostat data that in January 2022 alone, consumer prices in the eurozone increased by 0.3%.
