Eurozone Inflation Hits Record 10%

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 10 percent in September compared to 9.1 percent in August. The price rises also outstripped the U.S. for two straight months. U.S. CPI isn’t due out for another ten days.

All items have increased, with alcohol and tobacco seeing an 11.8 percent increase, non-industrial goods at 5.6 percent, and services at a 4.3 percent increase.

During September, 10 of 19 eurozone countries had double-digit inflation, with Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Netherlands experiencing 24.2, 22.5, 22.4, and 17.1 percent inflation, respectively.

Eurostat data shows the Netherlands had the highest energy inflation in September, 113.8 percent, followed by Belgium and Greece at 67.2 and 53.3 percent.

German inflation hit a new 71-year-high of 10.9 percent in September after the expiry of government measures to cushion the impact of the energy crisis.

Last week, Germany announced it would borrow an extra €200 billion on capping gas and electricity prices, while British Prime Minister Liz Truss proposed energy subsidies of £150 billion (€167.7 billion).

However, inflation slowed in France from 6.6 percent to 6.2 percent -- the lowest in the bloc, thanks to large subsidies on energy bills.

EU energy ministers on Friday (September 30) agreed on measures including a five percent mandatory reduction in peak electricity consumption, a windfall levy on fossil fuel companies, and a €180/MWh cap on the price of electricity generated by non-gas power producers.