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4/16/08

IHT: Inflation pushes higher in Europe and the U.S. - by David Jolly

For the complete report from the International Herald Tribune click on this link

Inflation showed no signs of slowing in Europe or the United States last month, according to a rash of data released Wednesday, and the euro rose to another record against the dollar amid expectations that central bankers on either side of the Atlantic will react differently.the EU statistical agency, said inflation in the 15 countries that share the euro rose 1.0 percent in March from February, and by a record 3.6 percent from a year earlier. The agency had previously reported March inflation of 3.5 percent, also a record. Adding to the European Central Bank's inflation worries was the news Wednesday that some 550,000 chemical workers in Germany had won a pay deal worth 8 percent over two years - the latest in a series of similarly sized packages in Europe's largest economy. "The times of wage restraint in Germany are clearly over," said Dirk Schumacher, senior European economist at Goldman Sachs.

"Food and energy prices are going up on a global scale," said Jörg Krämer, chief economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. Both in the United States and in the euro zone, he noted, rising food and energy costs added 1.6 percentage points to March inflation.

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