Inflation has jumped to almost 10 percent across the Eurozone as the European Union (EU) mulls a price cap on Russian gas imports.
Eurostat, the data center of the EU's executive body the European Commission, said prices in September were 9.9 percent higher than the same time last year across the 19 countries that use the euro currency.
That was a significant increase on the 9.1 percent rate Eurostat reported in August.
The biggest price rises were for energy, at 40.7 percent — predictably since sanctions on Russian gas, oil, and coal imports have driven the European cost of living crisis.
That was followed by food, both processed and unprocessed, at around 11.8 percent overall. Sanctions on Russia and the conflict in Ukraine have disrupted exports of grain crops, oil seeds, and fertilizers from the major producing regions.
The inflation rate was even higher at 10.9 percent for all 27 EU member states, up from 10.1 percent in August.
The worst-hit countries were the small Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, where inflation was running at 24.1 percent, 22.5 percent, and 22 percent respectively.
Last week it emerged that European energy ministers had proposed a unilateral cap on how much Europe would pay Russia for gas to the European Commission. That followed the terrorist attack against the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines across the Baltic Sea.
Russian national energy firm Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller warned at the weekend, referring to the possible price cap, that "such a unilateral decision is a violation of the essential terms of the contract, which entails the termination of supplies."
The UK, which never joined the euro and left the EU in 2020, fared just as badly in September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of inflation returned to its July level of 10.1 percent after falling slightly to 9.9 percent in August.
"The rise was driven by further increases across food, which saw its largest annual rise in over 40 years", said ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan, although that was "partially offset by continuing falls in the costs of petrol."
Newly-appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said the government would "prioritize help for the most vulnerable" through its energy Price Guarantee scheme — which he announced on Monday would be "reviewed" in April.
Inflation has already sparked strikes across diverse sectors of the British economy as employers' wage offers fail to keep pace.