Germany’s Central Bank Chief Warns Inflation Could Hit 10 Percent Amid Russia’s Gas Squeeze

President of the German Central Bank (Bundesbank) Joachim Nagel gives a press conference at the end of a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations (G7) in Koenigswinter, Germany on May 20, 2022. Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images

Germany’s central bank chief Joachim Nagel has warned that the country’s inflation rate could surge to over 10 percent in the autumn amid an energy squeeze prompted by Russia tightening gas supplies.

Nagel made the comments in an interview with the Rheinische Post on Aug. 20, as inflation across Germany rose to a 40-year-high of 7.5 percent in July from a year ago, driven primarily by an increase in energy prices.