Has Denmark’s record price inflation peaked?
Consumer prices have climbed 8.7 percent since July 2021, according to figures from the government agency Statistics Denmark.
An 8.7 percent increase in prices in Denmark represents the highest rate of inflation the country has experienced since 1983.
It is also 0.5 percent higher than the inflation level recorded in June.
Inflation is measured as a corrected average of price increases over a one-year period for product groups including food, energy, restaurant visits and clothes.
Skyrocketing prices for food, electricity, and fuel are driving the change to price indices.
Food and non-alcoholic drinks were 14,6 percent more expensive in July than they were 12 months prior. The category for milk, cheese and eggs has seen a 24.5 percent increase in price over the last year.
“Today’s numbers are equivalent to an average family having to pay 5,300 kroner more for their monthly consumption compared to a year ago,” Danske Bank’s senior economist Lars Olsen said in a written comment.
“Even if you account for wage increases during that time, there is still a fall in living standards of 3,200 kroner per month,” he said.
But there could soon be an end to the discouraging numbers and spiralling prices, according to another analyst.
“If our prognosis is correct, inflation will peak during the late summer and will gradually increase towards the turn of the year,” said Tore Stramer, lead economist with the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv).
“And then in 2023 – hopefully before we reach the summer – we will have inflation back at two to three percent, which is a more normal level,” he said.
That prediction is subject to uncertainty, Stramer stressed. Inflation has previously confounded expectations and has increased by more than predicted in recent months.
“If we get new increases in energy prices and the cost of raw materials, we can’t rule out inflation becoming stuck at the current high level for longer than expected,” he said.
Danske Bank’s Olsen also said he expect inflation to trend downwards in the latter months of 2022.
But it will be “a long time before we are down at normal inflation levels”, he said.
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An 8.7 percent increase in prices in Denmark represents the highest rate of inflation the country has experienced since 1983.
It is also 0.5 percent higher than the inflation level recorded in June.
Inflation is measured as a corrected average of price increases over a one-year period for product groups including food, energy, restaurant visits and clothes.
Skyrocketing prices for food, electricity, and fuel are driving the change to price indices.
Food and non-alcoholic drinks were 14,6 percent more expensive in July than they were 12 months prior. The category for milk, cheese and eggs has seen a 24.5 percent increase in price over the last year.
“Today’s numbers are equivalent to an average family having to pay 5,300 kroner more for their monthly consumption compared to a year ago,” Danske Bank’s senior economist Lars Olsen said in a written comment.
“Even if you account for wage increases during that time, there is still a fall in living standards of 3,200 kroner per month,” he said.
But there could soon be an end to the discouraging numbers and spiralling prices, according to another analyst.
“If our prognosis is correct, inflation will peak during the late summer and will gradually increase towards the turn of the year,” said Tore Stramer, lead economist with the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv).
“And then in 2023 – hopefully before we reach the summer – we will have inflation back at two to three percent, which is a more normal level,” he said.
That prediction is subject to uncertainty, Stramer stressed. Inflation has previously confounded expectations and has increased by more than predicted in recent months.
“If we get new increases in energy prices and the cost of raw materials, we can’t rule out inflation becoming stuck at the current high level for longer than expected,” he said.
Danske Bank’s Olsen also said he expect inflation to trend downwards in the latter months of 2022.
But it will be “a long time before we are down at normal inflation levels”, he said.
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