Inflation in Europe Reaches Highest Level in 25 Years

Inflation rates in Europe continue to rise, and its records have soared again in March, a sign that the increase in energy prices is affecting all products. Economic figures again break the inflation record for the single currency area since 1997, when common statistics started being recorded.

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Inflation in the Euro zone has increased in the last month by 7.5 percent, which implies a growth of 1.6 percent compared to February, as pointed out by the preliminary estimate published Wednesday by the Community statistics office, Eurostat.

The latest reading has surpassed the peak set last month, when it reached a revised 5.9 percent. The main explanation for this dizzying rise can be found in the price of energy, with an annual growth rate of 44.7 percent, which is more than ten points higher than the rise recorded in February, when it was already 32 percent.

This escalation of prices is beginning to provoke in some countries, such as those of Southern Europe, symptoms of suffocation in family economies, something that was evidenced this Wednesday by the advance of the CPI published in Spain, which placed the increase in the cost of the shopping basket in the vicinity of 10 percent, a record not seen for 37 years. 

The rise in prices is especially affecting electricity and fuels, as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages. 

The European Union is trying to lower energy prices as a measure to lower prices in the rest of the economy, a goal that is still far off, since the substitution of Russian gas for gas from the United States means a 40 percent higher price.