Skip to main content

Euro­zone infla­tion fell less than the fore­cast.

 

Europe
Euro­zone infla­tion fell less than fore­cast in Feb­ru­ary, mak­ing it the latest region to prompt expect­a­tions of fur­ther interest rate rises because of per­sist­ently high prices.

Con­sumer price growth dipped only slightly to 8.5 per cent in the year to Feb­ru­ary, from 8.6 per cent in Janu­ary, the EU stat­ist­ics agency said yes­ter­day, com­pared with a fore­cast of 8.2 per cent. Over the past month, fin­an­cial mar­kets have priced in higher interest rates for longer after the Fed­eral Reserve’s pre­ferred meas­ure of US infla­tion picked up in Janu­ary, and wage data came in strong in the US, the UK and parts of the euro­zone.

Ana­lysts said the new euro­zone data indic­ated infla­tion was likely to fall more slowly for the rest of the year than pre­vi­ously expec­ted and that the European Cent­ral Bank would keep rais­ing rates even after an expec­ted 0.5 per­cent­age point rise on March 16.

Core infla­tion, which cent­ral bankers watched closely as it excludes energy and food prices to give a clearer pic­ture of under­ly­ing pres­sures, rose to 5.6 per cent — up from 5.3 per cent in the pre­vi­ous month.

Christine Lagarde, ECB pres­id­ent, said before the fig­ures were released that while infla­tion was likely to have risen «a little bit» in Feb­ru­ary, it was on track to fall «much more» in March owing to the base effects of year-on-year com­par­is­ons with last year’s high energy prices.

www.sba.tax

Labels:

Comments

  1. Al3 March 2023 at 14:47


    I estimated an 8.4% and I was wrong. Inflation will keep going down but very slowly as months pass by. It will take many more months before prices start returning to a certain normal.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Cloud Bookkeeping

US FED rate rise.

  The US Federal Reserve officials have indicated that they plan to resume increasing interest rates to control inflation in the world's biggest economy. During the June meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee reached a consensus to keep interest rates stable for the time being to evaluate whether further tightening of policy would be necessary. However, the majority of the committee anticipates that additional rate increases will be required in the future. The minutes of the meeting have recently been made public. According to the minutes, most participants believed maintaining the federal funds rate at 5 to 5.25 per cent was appropriate or acceptable, despite some individuals wanting to raise the acceleration due to slow progress in cooling inflation. Although Fed forecasts predicted a mild recession starting later in the year, policymakers faced challenges in interpreting data that showed a tight job market and only slight improvements in inflation. Additionally, officials gr...
Post a Comment
Read more

EU business slide.

  S&P Global’s flash eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index, a key gauge of business conditions for the manufacturing and services sector, fell 1 point to 47.1, figures showed yesterday. That is its lowest level since November 2020 and the fourth consecutive month below the crucial 50 mark separating growth from contraction. One of the few bright spots in the survey was that companies in all sectors reported a slight easing of cost pressures, price growth and supply chain constraints. However, prices charged for goods and services still rose at the sixth fastest rate since such data started in 2002. Jobs growth increased marginally from October but remained low compared with the past 18 months. Following a few months of falling price pressure in manufacturing and services, the October print shows an overall stabilisation said Jens Eisenschmidt, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley. However, German businesses, at the hub of Europe’s energy crisis, reported that manu...
1 comment
Read more

EU debt reduction

  Brussels wants to give EU capitals extra time to curb their debts and create space for public investment as part of an overhaul of the EU’s deficit rules .  The European Commission would table a proposal at the end of the month to reform the Stability and Growth Pact ,  under which it would work out multi-year ,  country-specific plans with capitals for getting their debt burdens under control ,  EU officials said .  The proposals come as member states face mounting fiscal burdens as they spend hundreds of billions of euros sheltering businesses and households from the energy crisis .  Under the new blueprint ,  the commission would propose a four- or five-year plan to an EU member state to get its public debt burden on a credible ,  downward trajectory ,  officials said . The national fiscal plan would need to pass a debt sustainability analysis and be approved by the commission and EU council .  The new regime would ditch an EU ...
Post a Comment
Read more