9 Finance Monthly. The Mon t h l y Round -Up Eurozone inflation hit a new record high of 8.9% year-on-year in July, according to the EU’s statistics office. The European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, reported that consumer prices in the 19 countries using the Euro rose 0.1% month-on-month in July for an 8.9% year-on-year increase. This is the highest rise since the Euro was created in 1999. Eurostat said that of the total, 4.02 percentage points came from more expensive energy, which is up due to the Russia-Ukraine war. 2.08 percentage points stem from higher food, alcohol and tobacco costs. In July, the European Central Bank launched a tightening cycle following years of ultra-loose monetary policy. However, the cost of services still increased by 3.7% year-onyear in July, contributing 1.6 percentage points to the final outcome. Eurozone Inflation Hits New Record High Federal Reserve’s Barkin Warns Further Interest Rate Increases are Necessary Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin warned that further interest rate increases will be necessary to reduce price pressures. Speaking to CNBC, Barkin said, “So we’re happy to see inflation start to move down [..] I’d like to see a period of sustained inflation under control, and until we do that I think we’re just going to have to continue to move rates into restrictive territory.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, headline consumer prices were flat in July while producer prices were down 0.5%. However, this figure is just one month’s data, with CPI still up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis and the producer price index climbing 9.8%. Each of these figures is still notably over the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, meaning the central bank must continue to push forward in order to meet this goal. “You’d like to see inflation running at our target, which is 2% at the PCE, and I’d like to see it running at our target for a period of time,” Barkin commented.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz