Inflation hit a new record for the 19 countries that use the euro as skyrocketing fuel prices boosted by the war in Ukraine add new burdens to household finances and weigh on a slowing economic recovery from the latest outbreaks of COVID-19.
Annual inflation hit 7.5% for April, the highest since statistics started in 1997 and the sixth record in a row, topping the old record of 7.4% from March, the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat reported Friday.
Energy prices jumped a startling 38%, a testimony to how the war and the accompanying global energy crunch are affecting the eurozone’s 343 million people.