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Comment on Inflation surges to its highest since 1990

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It's helpful to have a look at the graph in the article and to remind yourself that the numbers are reported year-on-year. Inflation spiked up in the first half of 2021 and the comparison is between the current month and the same month last year so prices could stay the same and you would still report high inflation for a while (until the back end of the comparison window catches up to the moment in time when inflation went up).

I think it's important to clear this up because people say things like "high inflation of over 5-6% for months now" which is kind of misleading. Prices can go up 6% just once and then stay the same and you'll still report 6% inflation every month throughout the following year.

This isn't to say that things are great and high inflation isn't happening. The month-to-month increase is 0.9% which is very high (see the graph).

Totally right in your assessment.

But notice that, following your indication, monthly increase is a steady >0.2% and mostly >0.4% since May 2020, way above average.

So, yes: high inflation has been going on for at least a year.

Also note that due to the compound nature of inflation 2% or 4% is an entirely different ball game in the longer term.

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