All three countries have been hit with inflation rates at their highest level since the 80s. Skyrocketing energy prices are among the key factors pushing inflation up across the bloc.
The worst-hit among the three is Spain, which is facing its highest level of inflation in 37 years.
Spanish inflation has reached 10.2 percent this month, according to a first estimate from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This represents a substantial rise from the May figure of 8.7 percent.
The INE highlighted that this figure, if confirmed “would mark an increase of one and a half points” in inflation at an annual rate in the space of just one month. Belgium is not far behind, meanwhile, with a rate of inflation at 9.65 percent.
The figure, estimated by Belgian statistics office Statbel, was an increase of 0.68 percent from last month, and the highest since October 1982. While inflation is considered to be primarily driven by energy prices, analysis by Statbel showed that even when excluding energy products, the inflation rate is still on the rise, with May’s 4.53 percent rate surging to 5.26 percent this month.
Food prices have also risen sharply in Belgium, with inflation at 8.44 percent, up from 6.32 percent in May. However, energy inflation continues to skyrocket ahead.
Belgian energy inflation reached 55.99 percent in June, against 56.8 percent in May, contributing 4.91 percentage points to total inflation. While not as severe as Belgium or Spain, France is also wracked with record levels of inflation.
The rate across the Channel is estimated to have jumped to 5.9 percent this month – a rate anticipated to rise even further to 6.8 percent by September. The rate is expected to average out at 5.5 percent for the whole year, representing the first time this has happened to the country since 1985.
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Households will see their purchasing power fall by 1percent as a result, the strongest contraction since 2013 when austerity measures were in place. Head of the business cycle department at INSEE Julien Pouget said household confidence seems “particularly weakened”.
Services are expected to “carry most of the growth in the second half of the year”. The construction industry, however, may not be so lucky, with rising costs and supply difficulties caused by the war in Ukraine.
Released last week, the UK inflation rate for May was estimated to be at 9percent according to the Consumer Price Index, as published by the Office for National Statistics.
