European Union inflation hits new record

Inflation hit a new record in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, fueled by out-of-control prices for natural gas and electricity due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Economic growth also slowed ahead of what economists fear is a looming recession, largely as a result of those higher prices sapping Europeans’ ability to spend.

Annual inflation reached 10.7% in October, the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, reports. That is up from 9.9% in September and the highest since statistics began to be compiled for the eurozone in 1997.

Natural gas prices skyrocketed in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine as Russia throttled back pipeline supplies to a trickle of what they were before the war. Europe has had to resort to expensive shipments of liquefied gas that come by ship from the US and Qatar to keep generating electricity and heating homes.