Has the cost of living gone up in Europe too ?

[Batholemubrecht]

Or is it a uniquely UK thing ?
Lots of talk about it in the news but there’s never any suggestion whether it’s worldwide and due to pandemic chaos or purely a UK phenomenon. The B word is never mentioned, it’s like it never happened, no mention of lorry jams or the effects of new import legislation so what is causing it ?

It has in Italy especially gas and electricity. I have family there.

Yes it's up in lots of European countries as well as the US. All similar cause, ie global energy costs rocketing and supply chain issues, made worse by labor shortages etc.

Poland has hugely.

Yes, especially gas prices. We had cheaper food than many countries to start with remember

Yes.
The US too.
But not as much as places like Egypt have experienced that past few years, or worse still, Lebanon.

Yes, it definitely has in Spain. Electric was always expensive but the prices are always increasing! Same for food.

Gas and electricity. Hugely.

Food, too, but to a lesser extent.

I'm in France. The biggest price rise I've noticed is petrol/diesel. I'm on a low income and have just received an email saying I'll be getting a 100€ payment next week because of inflation.

I filled my gas tank last summer so it should last me another year as I generally rely on a woodburner.

@Beecham

Yes it's up in lots of European countries as well as the US. All similar cause, ie global energy costs rocketing and supply chain issues, made worse by labor shortages etc.

literally what I was going to write!

I think we do have it worse with Brexit though. Losing subsidies and cheap labour - as Jack Monroe is highlighting - you can’t expect so much cheap food now. The margins just aren’t there for a 39p bag of apples to be a realistic price.

One Commentator said that in most of europe they have contracts (complicated structurs) that fix the prices of energy for consumers for longer and prevent huge spikes like UK is experiencing -- so up in Europe but not skyrocketing.

Supply chain problems are global but worse in UK because of trade barriers with rest-world.

@Coconutmeg agree. Our food here was so ludicrously cheap, not so much in the EU.
Sad to think the tories have been inadvertently let off the hook yet again.

I was literally thinking about this this morning and was going to start a thread asking the same. Interesting to hear views from other countries, and agree with pp about the tories dodging a bullet yet again

Yes, it has. Also, holidays in some places abroad like US are much more expensive than pre pandemic. I mean the hotels and restaurants.

A little in Spain where I now live but I run a couple of businesses in the UK and also own a couple of houses there. It's honestly no comparison. The UK is super expensive in comparison

It was always easier to buy better quality food, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, at a better price in France and Spain. Junk food is cheaper here in the UK.

I’m in Portugal, fuel and electricity prices have increased a lot in the last year, though the electricity is capped by the government for now. It doesn’t seem to be as bad as the U.K. though, and other things like food, building materials etc. seem roughly the same.

Yes, everything has gone up massively. I pay my gas bill as a monthly DD based on the previous years consumption. On the 12th month there is no payment and we get a reconciliation of what they took vs what we actually used. We paid €149 a month in 2021 and at the end of the year we owed €599 extra . Normally it's pretty accurate and we might owe 100 or so. They have put next years monthly payments up by nearly 100 euros! Water bills have gone up massively in recent years, as have refuse collection charges, much of which are huge standing charges for underground communal bins (we have a badge and each deposit (45-litre bag) costs 99cents). In the last 6 months we made 17 deposits @99c and our bill is 75 euros! Presumably we are paying for the cost of installing them as there are far fewer collections needed because they are huge! And yes petrol has gone up (luckily I just switched to an electric car) and many food items too (especially those from the U.K.!). A free range chicken is 11 or 12 euros now, haven't seen one on offer for ages. You used to be able to get one for 6 or 7 euros.

We’re installing as much solar as we can afford at home - some off grid and some on. Also hoping to get an electric car this year. It’s the only way forward with prices what they are, and a no-brainer when we have so much sun, but we are lucky to be able to fork out for panels.

Croatia here. Inflation is 5.5 percent. Petrol and food went up, electricity and gas didn't, but they will from April 1st.

Considering the fact we're one of the poorest EU countries, lot of people, especially those on low income are very scared.

in USA they have a truck driver crisis as they do in Europe food prices are higher everywhere as is fuel, oil prices hit an 8 year high yesterday that impacts the whole world, the crisis in ukraine /russia will affect gas prices especially to middle eastern Europe
I follow a couple of fugal type you tubers in France USA and Russia they all say the same things
global pandemic global shortages economies are slowly starting to pick up as most places generally saying end to most retrictions
farmers were complaining in Europe that they couldn't get fruit /veg pickers as free travel for work across EU was stopped in pandemic
all of this impacts the poorest the hardest

Yes according to close friends family it’s gone up in Germany, Italy, US and Australia and parts of Asia

We have had cheap food for many years. I was shocked how expensive food is in Aldi in Germany and in Australia and some products in the US

Norwegian friends were telling us a couple of months ago about how much the cost of electricity had increased there.

I'm in Italy. Gas has gone up definitely. To do with trade agreements with Russia as that's where most of ours comes from. Electricity not so much. Still paying about €70 every 2 months which is ok.

Food prices haven't changed, but I noticed over the Christmas period with the Omicron wave taking off there were supply problems due to staff shortages. Our local supermarket had trouble with meat in particular.