Brussels, Jan 18 (TIWN) Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe said that high inflation will last longer than initially expected but is expected to diminish as the year progresses.

Addressing a press conference following a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, Donohoe said he was convinced that price pressures will begin to moderate and improve later in the year, reports Xinhua news agency.  According to the European Union's statistical arm Eurostat, inflation in the eurozone hit a new record of 5 per cent in December 2021.  Preliminary data from Eurostat showed that this was the highest level in the eurozone since record keeping began in 1997. It broke the previous record of 4.9 per cent set in November.  Donohoe said a number of Eurogroup finance ministers have raised the issue of inflation during the meeting. 

"We do expect and acknowledge that the higher levels of inflation are going to be in place for a longer period of time than we would have acknowledged at other points last year but, overall, we still expect that, as we move through this year, inflationary pressures that are in place at the moment will begin to diminish," he said.