Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. To punish Russian, NATO countries including US imposed economic sanction on Russia. All NATO countries and allies are discouraged to buy gasoline including gas from Russian. As a result, gasoline prices are shooting up which cause the inflation rate to increase in every country around the world.

In fact, economic sanction is counterproductive.

To rub salt to injury, the Nord Stream pipelines were damaged mysteriously recently. Russian gas flows through these 2 gas pipelines to Germany and Europe. This additional gas supply shortage pushes further up gas price in Europe.

Nord Stream pipeline 1 & 2 map

Everybody is complaining that the prices of almost everything are surging. The biggest culprit is inflation due to gas price increase as I mentioned above. The biggest culprit is transport cost increase due to gas price increase. Everything needs transport to carry it from one place to another. Just look at your own home. All the consumer items, all the house whole items including all the construction materials for building your house came from somewhere.

OPEC members

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq, with the signing of an agreement in September 1960 by five countries namely Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. They were to become the Founder Members of the Organization.

These countries were later joined by Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Libya (1962), the United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971), Ecuador (1973), Gabon (1975), Angola (2007), Equatorial Guinea (2017) and Congo (2018).

On 5 Oct. OPEC+ agreed to cut 2 million barrels per day

A group of some of the world’s most powerful oil producers on 5 Oct 2022 agreed to impose deep output cuts, seeking to spur a recovery in crude prices despite calls from the U.S. to pump more to help the global economy.

OPEC and non-OPEC allies, a group often referred to as OPEC+, decided at their first face-to-face gathering in Vienna since 2020 to reduce production by 2 million barrels per day from November.

Due to gas supply shortage gas prices are surging which is causing inflation in every country around the world.

US inflation highest in 40 years, with no letup in sight

Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering America’s consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy.

The Labor Department said that consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month compared with a year earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982.

American protest photo below.

Britain’s inflation rate climbed to 7 %, the highest in 30 years.

In Britain, several pieces of dispiriting economic news arrived recently: Prices are rising at their fastest pace in 30 years, wages adjusted for inflation fell the most in nearly eight years and the economy hardly grew in February. Household budgets are squeezed as wage increases are not keeping pace with rising prices.

It is mounting evidence of what is turning out to be a challenging year for many, with the tightest squeeze on household budgets forecast since records began in 1956.

UK inflation rate graph below:

Images of British protest:

China inflation is very small by comparison.

China's annual inflation unexpectedly fell to 2.5% yoy in August 2022 from July's 2-year high of 2.7%, less than market forecasts of 2.8%. Prices of both food and non-food eased amid strict COVID curbs and adverse weather. Cost of food rose by 6.1%, slowing from a 6.3% rise in July which was the steepest pace in 22 months. Also, cost of non-food went up 1.7%, moderating from a 1.9% gain, due to a slowdown in transport & communication (4.9% vs 6.1%), housing (0.6% vs 0.7%), household goods and services (1.3% vs 1.4%), and clothing (0.6% vs 0.7%); while inflation of healthcare was stable (at 0.7%) and that of education, culture quickened slightly (1.6% vs 1.5%). China has set a target of CPI at around 3% for 2022, the same as in 2021. On a monthly basis, consumer prices unexpectedly fell 0.1% in August, the first monthly decline in three months, missing consensus of a 0.2% rise, after a 0.5% gain in July.  Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China