Irish consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other EU member states, rose by 9.5 per cent on an annual basis in October, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
This measure of inflation, based on CSO’s harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), is different from the agency’s consumer price index (CPI), which put the headline rate of inflation here at 8.2 per cent in September.
Nonetheless the HICP measure of price growth was up from 8.6 per cent in September, suggesting the inflation trend here may still be accelerating.
Energy prices were the key factor. They are projected to have grown by 47.6% over the previous year and by 13.6% in October. When energy costs are taken out of the equation, inflation increased by 5.9% annually.
On Monday, the comparable rate for the entire euro zone will be made public.
The European Central Bank increased interest rates by 0.75 percentage points on Thursday in response to the worsening inflation outlook. This is the second increase of three quarters of a point in as many months. ECB president Christine Lagarde warned that it "might" take several meetings before rates peaked.
The latest announcement means the ECB's key refinancing rate, which affects mortgage rates, has risen to 2 per cent from zero since July.
