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Sharp rise in energy prices pushes OECD annual inflation up to 2.3% in January 2017
Annual inflation in the OECD area jumped to 2.3 % in January 2017, the highest rate since April 2012, compared with 1.8 % in December 2016. This rise was driven by energy prices which rose sharply, by 8.5 %, in the year to January, compared with 3.3 % in the year to December. Food price inflation also picked up (to 0.4 %, compared with 0.2 % in the year to December). However, excluding food and energy, annual inflation picked up only marginally, to 1.9 %, compared with 1.8 % in December 2016
Rising energy prices pushed up inflation in all major OECD economies in January 2017. Annual inflation picked up markedly in France (to 1.3 % in January, up from 0.6 % in December), Canada (to 2.1 %, up from 1.5 %), Italy (to 1.0 %, up from 0.5 %) and the United States (to 2.5 %, up from 2.1 %). It also accelerated in Germany (to 1.9 %, up from 1.7 %), the United Kingdom (to 1.8 %, up from 1.6 %) and Japan (to 0.4 % up from 0.3 %).
Euro area annual inflation, as measured by the HICP, increased markedly to 1.8 % in January, compared with 1.1 % in December 2016. Excluding food and energy, Euro area annual inflation was, stable, however, at 0.9 % in January. Eurostat’s flash estimate for February 2017 points to a further increase in overall annual inflation, to 2.0 %, in the Euro area, but excluding food and energy, Euro area annual inflation remains stable at 0.9 %.
Annual inflation in the G20 area increased to 2.6 % in January, compared with 2.3 % in December. Among G20 emerging economies, annual inflation increased in Indonesia (to 3.5 %, up from 3.0 %) and China (to 2.5 %, up from 2.1 %). On the other hand, it decreased in Brazil (to 5.4 %, down from 6.3 %), South Africa (to 6.8 %, down from 7.1 %), Saudi Arabia (to -0.4 %, down from 1.7 %), the Russian Federation (to 5.0 %, down from 5.4 %) and India (to 1.9 %, down from 2.2 %).