Inflation in Europe?

Higher since Covid.
You can find all the data you need online.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Inflation_in_the_euro_area

Rental cars in particular are through the roof, just like in the US. So you are probably better off taking trains if you can.

Good reference Roberto, Thanks

It depends on sector of the economy.

The UK is in Europe.

I've witnessed here near me in the last few months -

auto fuel rose about 80 percent and has recently dropped about 10 percent from the highs

food is officially 17 percent higher but pubs and restaurants appear about 25 to 35 percent and some of my groceries are nearly double. A few things in the supermarket are lower. Some things are almost impossible to get. Eggs in my supermarket a year ago were as low as 6 for £1- Often the egg shelves are empty and I've recently seen £3.70 for 6 eggs. when there are a few.

Energy at home (natural gas and electricity) has tripled in the last year, now capped for an average household at £2500 a year. Commercial businesses are not capped. There have been stories on the BBC recently of a childcare facility used to paying £150 a month now facing bills of £1350 a month.

Train fares (controlled) have just risen about 5 percent for this 6 month review, uncontrolled fares can rise more or less.

Hotel prices are significantly higher.

Official figures say we are at about 10 percent across the economy, I believe we are much higher.

Others in other parts of Europe will likely have different experiences or figures.

Looks like Eastern Europe is having a harder time, in terms of inflation -
https://www.statista.com/statistics/225698/monthly-inflation-rate-in-eu-countries/

Groceries are higher here in Frankfurt, especially meats and cheeses, but produce too. The produce is strange though, one week it will be higher than normal and 2 weeks later there is a glut of mandarines and avocados selling at bargain prices. Eggs are all about the same - 1.89€ for 10, 2.79€ for 10 of the organic, free range eggs. Meats are about 1-2€ more per kg.

Public transport went up, but it does this every year, yet the 49€ ticket is ready to take off in a month or so.
Have no idea what gasoline costs.

It was 8.7% in Germany in February and you can tell, because pretty much everything has become more expensive. It doesn't matter whether it's renting a flat or just a cup of coffee. With a solid income no issue but several people having a problem now.

Inflation across restaurants, hotels and leisure is sky high in the U.K. Holidays both at home and abroad are massively more expensive for us than pre covid. However, as the dollar is strong you will not feel the worst of it.

Appreciate the local responses but massively puzzled why every nation reports annual, or year over year, inflation? Doing so keeps repeating the reporting of the high inflation of last spring + June even though prices, at least in the US, have been pretty flat since July. I think month over month inflation rates would be more helpful for everyone. I see inflation hit Europe a little later than the US.

The annual inflation rate, at least in the US, will plummet when the July reporting comes out in August, and the high inflation of Feb-June 2022 finally drops out of the annual inflation figures.

Europe month over month
USA month over month

Tom, the annualized rate is useful for financial people, investors, bankers, economists, and government planners. Not so much for individuals. In other words, more useful for trying to predict the future (the rate and direction of change), than in documenting what's already happened.

Keep in mind that the official rate of inflation often is determined in strange ways that have little in common with how big a hit your back pocket took.
In the US it is mostly determined by “hard goods” so TVs and Cars and houses and other long lasting physical objects. And things like food, fuel, utilities and other “consumables” are minimized if not completely ignored in calculating inflation.
And that we have many many different organizations using many different ways to calculate inflation. Be it private business or Local or state governments or the Feds and often each department calculates it differently than other departments.
I won’t say they lie about it but as the old saying goes. Figures don’t lie. But liners figure. So by choosing what to add into the calculation and what to minimize or leave out you can RADICALLY change the numbers.

I assume that other countries have thier own ways as well.

And of course as tourists our biggest concerns will be different yet. Hotel prices are more important to travelers than locals. For example I could not begin to tell you the rate of hotels in my area, but I can ball park the number for London!

I found it very interesting to hear from UK tourists I met last December about the extreme costs of heating that they were experiencing. The prices they were paying were staggering. They were using every trick in the book to keep costs down. I don’t think the UK was alone in those challenges.

But- more importantly- is alcohol still cheaper than bottled water in European restaurants ???

I don't know, Pat, but I paid about 3 euros for bottled water in Rome, and that wasn't in expensive restaurants. I will say that those were good-sized bottles of water--usually 0.5 liters. (I well remember the chintzy 0.2-liter bottles I was served in Berlin back in 2015.) I have no clue what wine costs.

Most of the inflation raised its ugly head when the U.S. limited fossil fuel production 2 years ago. When I was in U.K. in June, they were paying about $8.51 per U.S. gallon for gasoline. I was in Israel earlier today, and was told they're paying about $8.00 a gallon.

Like North America, Europe is experiencing pretty strong inflation too.

Not Europe but we were in Argentina last week and their economy has tanked. We purchased foreign currency to use for tips, etc. and the locals didn’t want it. We generously tipped our guide and bus driver in pesos but I’m sure they would have preferred US dollars.

I found it very interesting to hear from UK tourists I met last December about the extreme costs of heating that they were experiencing. The prices they were paying were staggering. They were using every trick in the book to keep costs down

But didn’t those forecasted prices bust after a warm winter set in, and the astronomical prices not materialize? Or was that just continental Europe where that happened?

Personally paid $700 for just the last 3 months of heat.

But didn’t those forecasted prices bust after a warm winter set in,

nope, even with the cap and regulation prices are still going up

and what warm winter? December in the UK had record temps - record cold that is.

But- more importantly- is alcohol still cheaper than bottled water in European restaurants ???

We are in Spain at the moment. Beer is cheaper than bottled water and wine by the glass is about the same as water "con gas" - €3 - €3.50.

what warm winter

This warm winter.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/europe-experienced-second-warmest-winter-on-record/ar-AA18nlwO

And these gas prices

https://www.dw.com/en/europes-gas-prices-face-uncertain-future/a-64289690

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Gas-Prices/Europes-Gas-Prices-Drop-To-The-Lowest-Level-Since-September-2021.html

Although the UK seems to be on its own path with energy prices

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/15/business/uk-energy-price-guarantee-extension/index.html

@TomMN- Nigel is absolutely right that in December the UK (which was what this comment referred to) had an exceptionally cold month-gorgeous weather in almost still air. And has had several since, including this week.
Anyone who had been in the Lake District this week could not have missed the picture postcard winter weather. Really lovely to see. Not unheard of in March, but unusual.
I've just had a gas bill 4x higher than last winter, and the heating has been on as low as I have dared.
Why do you think we have so many community 'warm hubs' open this year in the UK- some of which were due to end in March, but are now extending into April.
UK prices are not going down significantly, just not rising as high as had been feared.
While I was writing this TomMN added another newspaper report- yes a guarantee is running for a further 3 months- until mid Summer. So falling wholesale prices may not actually feed through as much as they should.
This is why lots of hotels and other hospitality is closing for good.

Those are the real facts, as they apply to the UK, not whatever newspaper reports relating to the rest of Europe are quoted. The expected widespread power outages have not happened, probably because the UK has been able to import energy which it was feared would not be spare if the whole of Europe had had a severe winter.

And on the subject of inflation I've had a notification this morning from Stagecoach, the biggest bus operator in Scotland, of a general 15% increase in bus fares in Scotland from 2 April.

Above: I wasn’t quite done posting when you posted.

I know firsthand hand how weather fronts set up and south and east of a line can be mild while north and west of a line can be quite the opposite, for extended periods. It happened in the US all this winter.

My heating is up 50% this winter, 400% is really a political catastrophe.

Yup, costs are up. Average drinking wine in Budspest just hit $3 a glass, so I escaped to Bucharest for a few days where the $2 wine almost offset the airfare to get there.

I don’t think the UK was alone in those challenges.

Yes, except the UK did suffer from a particular lack of gas reserves, and the UK government did less protection of the consumer than many other countries (for example, France) did. UK consumers were indeed some of the very worst hit.

Inflation for groceries has been pretty bad (relatively speaking, I guess I mean “noticeable”) here, but the government absorbed most of the energy price increases rather than passing them on to private consumers. Small business — like bakeries !! — have really been hit hard, though.

I asked the question out of curiosity related to my upcoming trip. I was hoping we were an anomoly.

Inflation in the U.S. may be statistically flat, unfortunately, it's flat at much higher prices. The fed in the U.S. had said inflation was transitory - but it seems things are going to stay expensive. I can't recall ever going to the grocery store in the U.S. and not finding what you want. Now I regularly come home without items on the shopping list because there were none at the store.

Eggs used to be very inexpensive. Now they have doubled and doubled again, sometimes you can't find them at any price. Meats are crazy. Really everything is much higher. I've either stopped buying or rationed many items because I can't see paying the current price. Gas doubled (or more) then seems to have settled into about 50% higher that it was.

Do Europeans also say, "Misery loves company"?

Gelato has gone up across Europe. Even three or four years ago most street facing gelato windows would sell one small scoop one Euro. It was very handy, just slap a euro down on the tray.

That's long gone, now you wait for change or pick through yours.

Haven't been in Europe since the end of September, but anecdotally it appeared to me that prices were less inflated in more rural areas. I think they're experiencing the same inflation, but business owners were more willing to hold the line on prices and take the purchase power hit themselves in more country places.

Just anecdotal, and of course if true can't last long.

I said earlier in the thread that eggs here where I live in the UK have risen so much. I was in a supermarket tonight and was shocked to see 6-egg boxes, half a dozen eggs, for £5.00 (there were only a few). And the price of their cakes (use eggs of course) have gone up again - what were £5 a couple of weeks ago are now £7.

That's quite a lot of inflation

The problem the UK is facing is that prices are rising while wages have remained stagnant. The wealthy are doing fine but middle income and below households are now significantly poorer than their European counterparts.

The result is that prices may not seem too bad for visitors but locals are having a different experience.

I bought a carton of a dozen Safeway-brand eggs on Saturday in Washington DC, which is a non-competitive grocery market. I paid $4.49. The other two stores within a reasonable-for-me walking distance (I don't have a car) are Whole Foods and Harris Teeter, both of which are more expensive than Safeway.

I think you need to compare former and current prices at the same source to get an accurate idea of the food-inflation rate. After all, the people who were already shopping at the less expensive stores would be comparing the current prices to a much lower base.

Yes acraven,

Generic inflation figures can be misleading because they are based on a set "market basket" of products and don't consider consumers making other choices when the price goes up on a particular brand/product.

Along the same line, some travel sites use the local price of a Big Mac as an indicator of whether a place is expensive or not. Once upon a time, it was probably a good indicator. Most Americans knew how much a Big Mac was locally and could make judgments about prices in different countries. Today, not so much. I can't tell you the last time I had a Big Mac (nor do I want one) and have no idea what they cost in my area.

This thread is instructive because it shows real issues consumers are having - even after pursuing their options.

I used to use the cost of a cold can of Coke at a supermarket as a guide to overall costs.

Acraven, always an interesting experience finding Coke Zero or Diet Coke in Europe. I don't drink coffee, so I buy a few each night and put them on the outside window sill to chill for morning. I would pay almost anything!

Even with inflation being higher than the EU average in some Eastern European countries in general most remain 30% or more less expensive than Westen Europe, which if any of the destinations interest you, can offset the higher air cost (which for my preferred destinations this Summer have been going down the last few weeks). If you were thinking about the UK this year and Montenegro next year, you might reverse the order.

The Big Mac Index is still being published by the Economist magazine, and seems to have some usefulness to currency traders.

Pat,

I'm the same. I drink diet sodas, sometimes tea, but I'm not a coffee drinker. They can be outrageous. Occassionally I find a place that isn't too bad and find myself walking blocks just to save 50 cents on a soda.

Stan,

That's right, the Economist. I couldn't recall who used it but I've seen it many times over the years.