MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th July, 2022) The implications of the Ukrainian crisis, such as hiked prices and broken supply chains, will drag on to next year, Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag said on Monday.
"It's true that the crisis in Ukraine, the impact, the supply shocks and all the secondary effects, are here to stay for longer than we have hoped or anticipated. So, it's also a fact that will certainly be with us at a high level next year, that's what we understand and we need to take this into account," Kaag said before the Eurogroup meeting.
There is a possibility, however, that inflation might slow down by the end of 2022, she added.
"What we see is that inflation levels will remain high, but we still hope that they will temper off toward the end of the year. But that doesn't mean it needs to be at this level, what we currently witness and experience," Kaag added.
Eurozone inflation has been on the rise for months. Coupled with the disruption of supply chains due to hostilities in Ukraine, this spurred energy prices and caused shortages.
According to the Eurostat estimate published on July 1, the countries with the highest annual inflation in the euro area in June are Estonia (22%), Lithuania (20.5%), Latvia (19%), Slovakia (12.5%), and Greece (12%). Only two eurozone countries currently have a positive annual inflation trend, namely Germany and the Netherlands.
