Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics agency, said that the figures were yet to be confirmed this month, but it was expected that annual inflation reached 10.7% in October 2022, up from 9.9% in September.
It listed energy costs as having an annual increase of 41.9%, with food, alcohol and tobacco costs across the European Union rising 13.1% year-on-year.
It was the first time that inflation surged past 10% for the eurozone, and the 10.7% high exceeded predictions made by economists and analysts surveyed by Reuters last month.
Euro area #inflation up to 10.7% in October 2022: energy +41.9%, food, alcohol & tobacco +13.1%, other goods +6.0%, services +4.4% – flash estimate https://t.co/b9t9sOMDLM pic.twitter.com/NbsakF4eVe
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) October 31, 2022
They also show a disparity in inflation between Eurozone countries with some Baltic countries now experiencing inflation rates double the EU average.
Estonia’s year-on-year inflation figure hit between 22% and 25% in the last 5 months, while Italy has seen inflation soar from 9.4% in September to 12.8% in October.
Ireland’s inflation rate has almost doubled from 5.1% to 9.6% since October 2021.
France is currently recording the least severe hike in the eurozone, although annual inflation for October is at 7.1%.
The European Central Bank has hiked up interest rates to tackle the climbing cost of living, but they have also warned economic growth in the eurozone “slowed significantly in the third quarter of the year and we expect a further weakening in the remainder of this year and beginning of next year.”
The eurozone’s economy is now spluttering, recording just a 0.2% increase from the previous quarter, Eurostat also said in a release.
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that half of the countries in the eurozone could enter into recession in the months to come.
“Just to give you a sense as to how significant the hit on Europe is, our pre-pandemic projections and our current projections differ by half a trillion euros,” Kristalina Georgieva told Euronews.
“In other words, the loss to the European people is quite, quite dramatic.”
The IMF ‘s revised projections would see the eurozone record just 0.5% growth in 2023, with major economies such as Germany and Italy are projected to post negative growth of -0.3% and -0.2% rates, respectively.
Meanwhile, the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol has said that the world is “in the middle of the first truly global energy crisis.”
“Our world has never, ever witnessed an energy crisis with this depth and with this complexity,” he told Euronews.