Europe should avoid inflation spiral as energy price surges fade - IMF Europe chief

• Europe should not see an inflation spiral as a spike in energy prices is expected to fade next year and there is slack in the continent's labour market, the IMF European department chief said on Wednesday. 
• "We don't at this stage, expect any inflation spiral in Europe," IMF European Department Director Alfred Kammer told a news briefing. "The high inflation which we are seeing right now is really driven by an increase in energy prices, and we expect that to fade out during 2022." 
• Kammer said that a supply-demand mismatch on energy was partly due to the restart of economic activity and other factors such as the weather. 
• He said consumer price increases in the euro zone seen so far were not translating into second-round wage increases, partly because of slack in the labour market, with hours worked still 3% below pre-pandemic levels.

(Source: Reuters)