Food Price Spike Raises Questions Over ECB Inflation Gauge

A sharp increase in food prices in European supermarkets since the coronavirus outbreak has researchers wondering whether central bankers are looking at the right inflation measure when setting monetary policy.

If food prices continue to grow at the rate recorded between Feb. 1 and April 20, they’d stage a 3.8% increase this year, according to calculations by economists at the University of Hohenheim based on online supermarkets. Shortening the time frame for the data implies an even bigger price spike.