LAST UPDATE | 30 Sep 2022

THE EU HARMONISED Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Ireland has estimated that prices here have increased 8.6% in the year to September, lower than the Eurozone average of 10%.

This compares with HICP inflation of 9.0% in Ireland in the 12 months to August 2022 and an annual increase of 9.1% in the HICP for the Eurozone in the same period.

 Annual estimates of inflation for three of the 19 Eurozone countries published today were lower than the estimate of 8.6% for Ireland while 15 countries had a higher rate.

Commenting on the data published today, a statistician in the Prices Division of the Central Statistics Office , Anthony Dawson , said:

 ”Looking at the components of the flash HICP in Ireland for September 2022, Energy prices are estimated to be unchanged in the month but up 38.0% since September 2021. For the Eurozone overall, energy prices were up 3.0% in the month and up by 40.8% on an annual basis.”

The historic level of inflation in the Eurozone will encourage the European Central Bank to stay on its current path of rate hikes, in an effort to cool prices despite the risk of triggering economic recession in Europe.

The leap to 10% followed a 9.1% rise in August and doused hopes that inflation would begin to ease as energy markets stabilise seven months after Russia launched its war.

Making matters more complicated for policymakers, the eurozone’s powerhouse economies showed widely divergent inflation rates, with Germany seeing price hikes of 10.8% and France at 6.2%.

This may raise questions over whether the ECB should go ahead with another hefty rate hike of 0.75 percentage points at its next meeting on 27 October.

Energy prices in Europe remain under intense pressure with Russia starving the continent of gas supply as winter approaches.

With additional reporting from Jamie McCarron

© AFP 2022