PARIS (Reuters) – French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday that the euro zone was “in the middle of an inflation peak” which would last until the end of the year “at least”, but added there was still a lot of uncertainty.
Le Maire told Les Echos in an interview that he expects inflation levels to remain high until the end of 2023, adding that “even after 2023, inflation will be structurally higher than what we have been experiencing for the last few decades.”
Euro zone inflation rose to another record last month, boosting government bond yields.
Government borrowing costs have soared on the 19-country currency bloc’s periphery since the ECB unveiled plans last Thursday to raise interest rates to tame painfully high inflation that is at risk of becoming entrenched.
Asked on the latest surge in bond yields hitting southern euro zone countries, Le Maire said that he had “full trust” in the governments of Greece and Italy that they would take the right decisions.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, editing by Tassilo Hummel)