Inflation continues to surge

Year-on-year inflation in the OECD area climbed to 9.6% in the year to May 2022, compared with 9.2% in April. This represents the sharpest price increase since August 1988.​

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Year-on-year inflation in the OECD as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 9.6% in May 2022 (Figure 1), compared with 9.2% in April 2022, largely driven by food and energy prices. This represents the sharpest price increase since August 1988. Year-on-year inflation increased in all countries except Colombia, Japan, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Ten OECD countries recorded double-digit inflation, with the highest rates recorded in Türkiye, Estonia and Lithuania.

Food price inflation in the OECD continued to surge, reaching 12.6% in May 2022 compared with 11.5% in April. Energy price inflation jumped to 35.4% year-on-year in May 2022, up from 32.9% in April. Excluding food and energy, year-on-year inflation increased to 6.4% in May 2022, compared with 6.2% in April 2022.

The G7 area saw an increase in year-on-year inflation in May, reaching 7.5%, compared with 7.1% in April. It increased in all G7 countries, except Japan where it was stable (at 2.5%), with the strongest rises between April and May 2022 recorded in Canada and Italy.

Energy prices were the main contributor to inflation in France, Germany, Italy and Japan in May, while inflation excluding food and energy continued to drive inflation in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States (Figure 2).

In the euro area, headline year-on-year inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose to 8.1% in May 2022, compared with 7.4% in April. Excluding food and energy, it increased to 3.8% in May, compared with 3.5% in April.Eurostat’s flash estimate for the euro area in June 2022 points to a further increase in year-on-year inflation (to 8.6%), while inflation excluding food and energy decreased slightly (to 3.7%). Marked increases were observed in France and Italy, while inflation is estimated to have slowed down in Germany.

Year-on-year inflation in the G20 area rose to 8.8% in May 2022, compared with 8.5% in April 2022

​Visit OECD Data to explore these data further.

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​Visit OECD Data to explore these data further.

Underlying data:

• OECD, annual inflation
• G20, annual inflation
• OECD countries, contributions to annual CPI inflation by COICOP Division, current month (xlsx)
• OECD countries, contributions to annual CPI inflation, selected components, historical series (xlsx)
• G7 & non-OECD countries, zone aggregates, inflations rates, historical series graphs (xls)

• Consumer prices FAQs
  
• Contacts: for further information, journalists are invited to contact the OECD's Media Relations Division on (33) 1 45 24 97 00 or news.contact@oecd.org; others should contact the Statistics Directorate and Data on stat.contact@oecd.org
• Link to previous news releases
• More information on price indices at www.oecd.org/std/prices-indices

Source : OECD, juli 2022