Inflation had already reached 8.9% in July for the 19 countries sharing the single currency.

These figures are the highest recorded by the European statistics office since the start of the publication of the indicator in January 1997.

Consumer price inflation has hit a new all-time high every month since November 2021, as the war in Ukraine stokes soaring energy and food prices.

To curb the phenomenon, the ECB should significantly raise its rates at its next meeting on September 8, after an initial increase in July, but at the risk of cooling an economic situation already at half mast.

This was immediately demanded on Wednesday by the President of the German Central Bank (Bundesbank), Joachim Nagel, a "hawk" of monetary policy.

"It is urgent that the Governing Council of the ECB act decisively at its next meeting," he said in an email to the media, recalling that inflation was well above the ECB 2% target.

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“We need a big interest rate hike in September. And more hikes are on the way in the following months,” he said.

"For a growing number of people, high inflation is becoming a huge burden. Households that already have little money to make ends meet are particularly hard hit," he said.

"The new rise in inflation increases the pressure on the ECB to accelerate monetary tightening," notes Jack Allen-Reynolds, expert at Capital Economics.

He considers likely "an increase of 75 basis points next week".

"Revenue Compression"

According to this expert, "inflation will increase further in the coming months" and could reach "10% before the end of the year" because "the soaring gas prices in Europe continue to affect the prices of energy and food".

With wages rising by an average of 2.1% in the second quarter, "the euro zone is facing an unprecedented compression of real incomes" of households, underlines Bert Colijn, of ING bank.

"Given that the economy is rapidly slowing down - and may already be in contraction - the question is how much the ECB should curb," he said.

But according to him, "a further rise of at least 50 basis points in September seems like a done deal, with the +hawks+ ​​pushing for 75bps".

Mr. Colijn wonders, however, "how the ECB will react thereafter, if the signs of economic distress become more apparent".

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Among the components of inflation in the euro zone, energy prices once again experienced the highest annual increase in August, although slightly slowing down, to 38.3% (compared to 39.6% in July) .

Food prices (including alcohol and tobacco) increased by 10.6%, after 9.8% in July.

Those of industrial goods and services increased by 5% and 3.8% respectively, also accelerating compared to the previous months.

By country, the lowest inflation was recorded in France (6.5%).

It reached 8.8% in Germany, 9% in Italy and 10.3% in Spain, according to harmonized data calculated by Eurostat.

The Baltic countries had the highest rates: 25.2% in Estonia, 21.1% in Lithuania and 20.8% in Latvia.

© 2022 AFP