Greece gas prices see 332% annual rise

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - Gas prices in Greece have hit a record high with a 332% annual increase, the country's statistical authority said Monday.

The country’s annual inflation rate rose to 12% in September, up from 11.4% in August and 11.6% in July, said the Hellenic Statistical Authority.

Greece is among the many European countries which have seen a rise in the cost of living partly due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The consumer price index showed a 2.9% monthly increase in September -- compared to a 2.4% rise in the same period of last year.

The average consumer price index in the October 2021-September 2022 period went up 8.7%.

The cost of air transport saw a 58.7% rise, followed by electricity 30.5%, hotels 25.8%, dairy 23.3%, coffee 14.3% and fuel 17.7%.

Speaking to iEnergeia.gr, the new information site for energy, Dimitris Koutsoubas, leader of the Communist Party of Greece, said the burden on the public will rise further.

"Overall, the alternative plans discussed do not challenge the EU's main choices to date, which have dramatically increased energy poverty for people even before the war in Ukraine," Koutsoubas said.

“Once again it is proven how illusionary is the myth of community solidarity, which supposedly would be a shield for the workers,” he added.

Opposition party Syriza MPs Efi Achtsioglou and Alexis Charitsis in a statement said "the government plunges society into poverty, widens inequalities and makes insecurity a regime with multiple dead ends.”