ABSTRACT
The Consumer Price Index (all items) for 42 countries has a positive trend. The inflation rate defined as the percentage change in the CPI is, on average, positive for all countries. In most of the developing countries, the average of inflation from 1960 to 2021 is a double digit and very variable. There are exceptions, however. The Latin and South American countries have relatively higher inflation on average, followed by the MENA countries and Africa. The Asian countries have remarkably relatively lower average inflation rates. Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia have very low inflation rates. The seven developed countries, which we have in our sample, Australia, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, have successfully targeted low and stable inflation rates around 2–2.5 percent since the early 1990s. Totally unanticipated by policymakers, inflation has increased in 2021, and it has been rising ever since, more so in the developed inflation-targeting countries. As a result of inflation-targeting, the price level keeps rising, has a stochastic trend, and is indeterminate.
