as energy prices continue to rise
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4 May 2022 - Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 8.8% year-on-year in March 2022, compared with 7.8% in February 2022, and just 2.4% in March 2021; it was their sharpest increasesince October 1988. Around one fifth of OECD countries recorded double-digit inflation, with the highest rate in Turkey at 61.1%.
Energy price inflation in the OECD soared to 33.7% year-on-year in March, up from 26.6% in February, its highest rate since May 1980. Excluding food and energy, year-on-year inflation increased to 5.9% in March, after 5.6% in February 2022.
Year-on-year inflation in the G20 area also increased in March 2022, reaching 7.9% compared with 6.8% in February 2022.
Consumer prices, selected areas
March 2022, percentage change on the same period of the previous year, %
Source: Consumer price indices, OECD
Year-on-year inflation rose in all G7 countries, reaching an overall rate of 7.1% in March. The largest increase in inflation among G7 countries was recorded in Germany (+2.1 percentage points) and the smallest increase was recorded in Japan (+0.3 percentage point). ). Energy was the main contributor to inflation in France, Germany and Italy, while inflation excluding food and energy was the main driver of overall inflation in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.1
Note: Due to the recent move to a new classification of consumer expenditures and the fact that some detailed series in this new classification (COICOP 2018) are still missing, contributions to CPI inflation in Japan cannot be calculated.
Source: Consumer price indices, OECD
Underlying data:
- OECD, annual inflation
- G20, annual inflation
- OECD countries, contributions to annual CPI inflation by COICOP Division, current month (xlsx)
- OECD countries, contributions to annual CPI inflation, selected components, historical series (xlsx)
- G7 & non-OECD countries, zone aggregates, inflations rates, historical series graphs (xls)
1. See the OECDStatistical Insights released on 26 April for more details: Why is inflation so high now in the largest OECD economies? A statistical analysis
