Inflation marches higher still in September: OECD

Global inflation continued its rise in September, according to new data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The group reported that annual inflation in the OECD area rose at a 4.6% rate in September, up from 4.3% in August, primarily due to higher energy and food prices. A year ago, the annual rate was just 1.3%.

“Over the year, energy prices soared by 18.9% in the OECD area, nearly a percentage point higher than in August and the highest rate since September 2008,” the group said.

At the same time, food prices increased 4.5% throughout the OECD, compared with 3.5% in August.

Excluding food and energy, OECD annual inflation was still up slightly to 3.2% in September, after three months at 3.1%. With the increase, core inflation reached its highest rate since April 2002, the OECD noted.

By region, annual inflation surged to 3.4% in the Euro area in September, up from 3.0% in August, and from -0.3% back in September 2020.

Annual inflation in the U.S. also edged up to 5.4% in September from 5.3% in August, the OECD said.

For Canada, headline inflation reached 4.4%, with energy prices up 20.1% from last year, the data showed. Core inflation for Canada sat at 2.9%, in September.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.