OECD Area Inflation Hits 24-Year High With 5.2% In October

Consumer prices in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area climbed by 5.2% year-on-year in October to reach 24-year high, the international group revealed Thursday.

Average annual inflation for 38 member countries was 4.6% in September and 1.2% in October 2020, the OECD said in a statement.

October figures posted the highest consumer price increase since February 1997.

Energy prices in the OECD area jumped by 24.2% – highest rate since July 1980 – in October on a yearly basis, more than five percentage points over the September figure of 18.9%.

"Food price inflation in the OECD area was stable at 4.5%," the organization said "Excluding food and energy, OECD year-on-year inflation rose more moderately, to 3.5%, compared with 3.2% in September."

All G7 countries posted inflation rate increases except Japan, where the rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 0.1%.

Annual inflation increased sharply in the UK to 3.8% from 2.9% and the rate in the US rose to 6.2% from 5.4%.

"All items excluding food and energy contributed most to overall inflation in these two countries," the OECD said.

The rate increased in other G7 countries: to 4.7% in Canada (from 4.4% in September), to 4.5% in Germany (from 4.1%), to 3.0% in Italy (from 2.5%), and to 2.6% in France (from 2.2%).

"Energy price inflation rose sharply in these four countries and energy was the main contributor to overall inflation in Italy and France," it added.

In the euro area, annual inflation rose to 4.1% in October 2021, compared with 3.4% in September and minus 0.3% in October 2020, the organization said.

"However, it remained lower than in the OECD area as a whole, particularly compared with the United States where year-on-year inflation climbed from 5.4% in September to 6.2% in October, the highest rate since November 1990."

The average annual inflation rate was 5.3% in the G20 area, up from 4.6% in September. -