European officials confirmed that inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro reached a record of 8.1% in May, amid soaring food and energy prices partly fuelled by the war in Ukraine.

The latest data from the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, revealed that annual inflation in May exceeded the previous record by 7.4% set in the past two months.

Inflation in the region is now at its highest level since records began for the euro in 1997, and energy prices are up by 39.2%, underscoring how war and the accompanying global energy crisis are making life more expensive for the 343 million people in the Eurozone.

Food prices also jumped by 7.5%, another sign of how the war is driving prices up worldwide as Russia and Ukraine are the main food suppliers.

Observers said that inflation levels in the European Union had witnessed unexpected rises since the beginning of the Russian military operations against Ukraine. These operations led grain and crop prices to be the first affected due to the lack of supply when the world was almost breathing a sigh of relief from the negative repercussions of Corona.