Eurozone inflation is likely to have hit a record high of 7.5 percent in April, but not all countries using the single currency will be hit equally. This is the result of preliminary figures from Eurostat.
Estonia is forecast to have the highest inflation among the 19 countries using the euro, with prices 19 percent higher than in April 2021. This is an increase from March, when annual inflation in Estonia was 14.8 percent achieved.
Estonia's Baltic neighbors – Lithuania and Latvia – follow with double-digit values. That's largely because the three small states are heavily dependent on foreign imports to meet their energy needs, making them particularly vulnerable to global price swings.
Energy is expected to record the highest annual inflation rate in April at 38 percent – compared to 44.4 percent in March – followed by food, alcohol and tobacco, which is expected to see inflation at 6.4 percent versus 5 percent in March .
The countries with the lowest inflation are expected to be Finland (5.6%), France (5.4%) and Malta (4.9%).
In the case of Finland and France, this is attributed to a more diversified energy mix, while Malta, which relies on gas imported from abroad, has an ongoing multi-year supply deal with Azerbaijan that has helped keep prices stable.
The Eurozone and the wider European Union are far from the only regions to experience sharp price increases, with record inflation also seen in the UK and US in recent months.
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