Tag: Inflation

The European Union's budget chief defended plans yesterday (20 April) to increase the bloc's spending by 4.9% next year, saying the proposal struck a balance between austerity and the need to boost growth.

The European Central Bank is under pressure to cut interest rates further at its board meeting next week, with eurozone inflation dropping below the "close to 2%" target and unemployment expected to hit the 10% mark in 2009 amid a worsening economic crisis.

Europe should not change its policy and in no way imitate the US while dealing with the international financial crisis, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said on 17 September. He strongly rejected US-style fiscal stimulus packages aimed at reviving growth and regaining voters' confidence.

The European economy looks set for a further downturn as Germany, Spain and the UK are expected to fall into recession, according to Commission estimates presented yesterday (10 September). The news is likely to put a downer on EU finance ministers' talks in Nice, where the ailing economy and turmoil in financial markets are on the agenda.

Amidst an overall worsening of economic indicators, inflation in the euro zone has reached a new record high, according to Eurostat estimates published yesterday (31 July).

Amid the plethora of proposals, European heads of state and government were unable to overcome their divisions over how best to address soaring oil prices during the European summit in Brussels.

Despite strong business confidence throughout the eurozone, "a closer look reveals a less rosy picture" of European economies, says Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform in an April blog post. 

As trade union members gathered in their thousands to demand wage rises in the face of rising prices, EU finance ministers warned that excessive pay hikes risked fuelling spiralling inflation.

Due to increasing inflationary pressure, the European Central Bank (ECB) should not wait until next year to raise its interest rates from their current level of four percent, writes Wolfgang Münchau from EuroIntelligence. 

Sebastian Becker of Deutsche Bank Research argues that global "excess" liquidity has contributed positively to well-performing stock and bond markets and has not led to consumer price inflation or asset-price inflation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates on 8 March 2007 to 3.75% and indicated that further increases were likely due to growth and inflation in the eurozone. 

The European Central Bank (ECB), while keeping interest rates steady at 3.5%, hinted that they could rise next month amid ongoing wage negotiations in Germany, a move which would make European exports more expensive.

Economic growth in the EU will overtake America’s for the first time in years and millions of jobs will be created in 2007, according to the Commission’s latest economic forecasts.

Several European business associations expressed their dissatisfaction with the 0.25 point rate rise of the European Central Bank on 8 June.

In 2004, the average inflation rate clearly accelerated in the CEEC and is expected to be around 5%, after reaching an all-time low in 2003 (3.4%). This trend is virtually generalised, the only exceptions being Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Cyprus. Three questions immediately spring to mind: did EU accession have an impact on inflation? Which goods and services contributed most to this acceleration? What are the current forecasts for 2005? Read more in MINEFI-DREE's Revue Elargissement.

A GfK survey has found that there is widespread fear of inflation after accession in the ten new countries, but also hopes of better job and education opportunities.

EU Finance Ministers examined the Stability and Convergence Programmes for Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Denmark and the UK on 18 February. The discussion on the UK budget confirmed the growing divergences of opinion on granting some flexibility in the EU's Stability and Growth rules.

EU will have to deal with higher inflation rates when Central and Eastern European countries join