Inflation has reached record levels since the existence of the single European currency.
In February, consumer prices rose by 5.9 % compared to the same period in 2021, and March growth was 7.4%. This is a record since the introduction of the single European currency in 1999, according to DW, citing the European statistical office Eurostat.
The rise in the cost of living in the eurozone has not stopped since the summer of 2021, but inflation has accelerated sharply recently due to the Russian war in Ukraine and strict acticoronavirus restrictions in China. On a monthly basis, consumer prices in the euro area rose by 2.4% in March. , 4%. Food prices jumped by 5% year on year in March. As a result, the European Central Bank's medium-term inflation expectations have been significantly exceeded.
The ECB is increasingly inclined to raise the discount rate. A number of members of the bank's board made it clear that the rate could be raised in July.
On April 14, the ECB's press service reported that the base interest rate on major refinancing operations remained at a historically low level of 0%. The Board of Governors then decided that key ECB interest rates would remain at current levels until inflation is 2% and stable within the projected horizon.
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According to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Russia's war in Ukraine could lead to 1.7 billion people – more than a fifth of humanity – in poverty and famine on a scale not seen in decades. Prior to the Russian aggression, the warring countries provided a third of the world's wheat and barley production . The economies of the least developed countries have been hit hardest by the war.
