The high energy prices have driven inflation in the euro zone to a new high: consumer prices rose by an average of 5.0 percent in December compared to the previous year, as the EU statistics agency Eurostat announced on Friday based on an initial estimate.
The prices for energy increased by 26.0 percent.
Food was 3.2 percent more expensive and services 2.4 percent more expensive.
The rise in consumer prices of 5.0 percent was the highest since Eurostat began recording in 1997. In November, the inflation rate had already reached a preliminary high of 4.9 percent year-on-year.
The ECB recently raised its inflation forecast for the new year to 3.2 percent, almost doubling it.
Warnings of prolonged high inflation have recently been voiced in the ranks of the monetary authorities.
The ECB forecast, according to which the inflation rate will fall below two percent again in 2023, could be a bit too rosy, said the Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot.
According to the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday, the inflation rate in Germany was 5.3 percent.
According to the calculation method of Eurostat, a harmonized consumer price index, the rate in Germany was 5.7 percent last month.