Eurozone: Annual inflation at 5.1% in January – Greece at 5.5%

LAST UPDATE 12:40

Eurostat expects a new jump in inflation for January, with prices continuing their rally from last year, setting a new record at the beginning of 2022.

In particular, the annual inflation of the Eurozone is expected to reach 5.1% in January 2022 from 5.0% in December and 4.9% in November, according to the initial estimate of the European Statistical Office. It is noted that in January 2021 inflation was only 0.9%.

For Greece, Eurostat expects new inflation to rise to 5.5% in January from 4.4% in December and 4% in November. It is worth noting that in January 2021 the index was at -2.4%.

New jump in energy prices

Looking at the key elements of inflation, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in January (28.6% compared to 25.9% in December). It is followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (3.6% compared to 3.2% in December), services (2.4%, stable compared to December) and non-energy industrial goods (2.3% compared to with 2.9% in December).

Excluding energy and food, the construction index is expected to rise to 2.3% in January from 2.6% in December, according to Eurostat estimates.

The data on inflation comes shortly before the monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank on Thursday. At 5.1%, inflation is more than double the ECB’s official 2% target, which is expected to trigger new pressure on the central bank to take action to curb prices.

The euro strengthened 0.3% against the dollar to $ 1.1305 following inflation data.