Macro roundup: Inflation jumps again
Macro roundup: Inflation jumps again
Industrial production also shoots up, while ECB buying of Greek bonds continues apace
Inflation in Greece continued to shoot up in November, with the EU-harmonised rate jumping to 4 percent from 2.8 percent in October. The rate still trails the euro-area average of 4.9 percent, but the gap is closing.
The rate calculated using a national measure increased to 4.8 percent last month. Inflation is also starting to broaden beyond energy and food, with clothing and footwear under the national consumer price index measure rising 3.9 percent.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile elements like energy and food, rose to 0.7 percent from 0.2 percent in October under the national measure.
Other data
Seasonally-adjusted gross domestic product grew 2.7 percent from the second quarter and 13.4 percent from the third quarter of 2020. I wrote more here:
Industrial production increased 16.5 percent in October from a year earlier, compared with 9.9 percent in September. Electricity supply increased 30.8 percent, while manufacturing was up 14.7 percent.
The latest ECB data on pandemic purchases showed that the central bank bought 2.75 billion euros of Greek government bonds in October and November. We noted recently that this pace of purchases looks unsustainable given the supply of securities, so it will be interesting to see how this develops.
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Next week’s key releases
Monday, Dec. 13:
September building activity survey (Elstat)
1H commercial property price index (Bank of Greece)
Wednesday, Dec. 15:
October unemployment (Elstat)
January-November central government budget execution (Finance Ministry)
Elsewhere on the web
Russia will return the pre-war Jewish archive in Moscow to Greece. This is incredibly good news for historians of the community.
Mining billionaire Beny Steinmetz arrested in Athens.
Angela Merkel was no saint.
Guess who’s back, back again. Hans Werner Sinn, that’s who. And he’s armed with ketchup.
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