Global inflation tracker: see how your country compares on rising prices
3 min read
Inflation remains at — or close to — its highest level in decades in many countries, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushing up energy and food prices, and squeezing households’ real incomes.
The latest figures for most of the world’s largest economies make for worrying reading, with price pressures surging to the highest level in many decades. In some countries, pressures have eased from their recent peaks. But, in many cases, this is only the result of government packages to shield consumers from soaring energy prices.
The energy crisis is particularly acute in Europe where the price paid for electricity by consumers, which is pegged to the cost of the most expensive feedstock, has increased sharply in line with soaring gas prices.
Central banks have reacted by raising interest rates, even though higher borrowing costs could exacerbate the squeeze on real incomes.
High inflation remains geographically broad-based. Consumer price growth has even started rising in Asia, a region that until recently had largely been an exception to the worldwide pattern.
This page provides a regularly updated visual narrative of consumer price inflation around the world. This includes economists’ expectations for the future, which show inflation projections being steadily revised up for 2023, according to leading forecasters polled by Consensus Economics.
Investors’ expectations of where inflation will be five years from now have been volatile in the past months reflecting central banks’ more aggressive tightening, which lowers medium-term inflation, coupled with higher and volatile gas prices that could push inflation up. In some countries, particularly in Europe, governments’ fiscal packages to offset the higher cost of energy are having an impact on inflation expectations.
Higher interest rates have also raised the chances of a recession in some countries, with economists fearing a return to the stagflation of the 1970s — a situation characterised by persistent price pressures and weak growth.
The rise in energy prices drove inflation up in many countries, even before Russia invaded Ukraine. Daily data show how the pressure has intensified on the back of a conflict that has left Europe fearing for its gas supply over the coming quarters.
Higher inflation is also spreading beyond energy to many other items, especially in countries where demand is strong enough for businesses to pass on higher costs.
Rising prices limit what households can spend on goods and services. For the less well-off, this could lead to people struggling to afford basics such as food and shelter.
Daily data on staple goods, such as the wholesale price of breakfast ingredients, provide an up-to-date indicator of the pressures faced by consumers. In developing countries, the wholesale cost of these ingredients has a larger impact on final food prices; food also accounts for a larger share of household spending.
Another point of concern is asset prices, especially for houses.
These soared in many countries during the pandemic, boosted by ultra loose monetary policy, homeworkers’ desire for more space and government income-support schemes. However, higher mortgage rates are already leading to a significant slowdown in house price growth in many countries.
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