Some European international locations see costs rise so much sooner than others within the bloc : NPR

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Inflation is not only a downside right here within the U.S. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, COVID-induced provide chain points and provider worth gouging are creating complications in Europe, too. Rebecca Rosman has extra.

REBECCA ROSMAN, BYLINE: Let’s begin on the pump. Twenty-five-year-old Martin Brew (ph) says he has been bringing his Porsche, a present from his dad, to this petrol station in southern Paris ever since he was a youngster. Simply six months in the past, he says gasoline prices him round a euro 50 a liter.

MARTIN BREW: And now it is 2.43, as you’ll be able to see.

ROSMAN: By the point he fills up the tank, he’ll have paid 141 euros, or about $150. So evidently, he is needed to make some changes to his every day routine.

BREW: I am biking to work now. And in Paris, we’re sort of fortunate you’ll be able to take the bike.

ROSMAN: That is not the one purpose he is fortunate to dwell in Paris. Whereas France’s inflation fee hit a file 5.8% in Could, that is nonetheless greater than two factors under the inflation fee for the Eurozone as a complete. Ana Boata is the top of financial analysis on the international insurance coverage dealer Allianz Commerce.

ANA BOATA: Inflation is kind of, fairly excessive in all of the eurozone international locations. So France is clearly one of many exceptions.

ROSMAN: She explains that whereas rising vitality costs have been a key driver of inflation, costs are nonetheless decrease in France for 2 essential causes. One, France is much less reliant on international vitality imports, i.e., Russian oil, due to its nuclear energy capabilities. And two, in contrast to many international locations within the Eurozone, Boata says the French authorities has capped electrical energy worth will increase at 4%.

BOATA: As a substitute of fifty%, which has been the norm this 12 months. So we’ve clearly some mechanism which can be working and that hold inflation in test in some international locations somewhat than the others.

ROSMAN: Others being international locations like Germany, the place vitality costs have soared by 38%, and the general inflation fee hit 8.7% final month. And worst of all, Estonia, which reached an astonishing 20.1% inflation fee. In truth, all of the Baltic states have discovered themselves reaching double-digit inflation as a result of they’re extra depending on imports from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The European Central Financial institution says it expects inflation throughout the eurozone to persist effectively into 2023.

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ROSMAN: Even when France’s inflation fee is decrease than different EU international locations, costs at this Paris grocery store are going up. PE trainer Aayan Sefilar (ph) says his month-to-month purchasing used to price him round 250 euros.

AAYAN SEFILAR: Now if I wish to do my grocery purchasing, it is, like, extra like 300 or 350 euro, like, for my grocery. So a giant enhance.

ROSMAN: However most Europeans appear to be keen to pay the value. A Eurobarometer survey launched Wednesday discovered that 59% of Europeans imagine defending frequent EU values outweighs the cost-of-living points, a minimum of for now. For NPR Information, I am Rebecca Rosman in Paris.

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