International rating agency S&P Global Ratings has raised its estimates of consumer price growth rates for most countries for the coming years.

In the U.S., inflation is now expected to be 6.7% in 2022 and 2.6% next year, up from the previously expected 5.6% and 1.8%, respectively. For the eurozone, the estimate has been raised to 6.4% this year from March’s 4.9%, and to 3% in 2023 from 2.2%.

Meanwhile, in the PRC inflation will be less significant, the agency’s analysts believe. According to their forecast, prices in this country will increase in 2022 by 2.4% (previously assumed 2.8%) and next year by 2.5% (2.6%).

“Higher energy and commodity prices will destroy the purchasing power of both firms and households,” the report said. This can be mitigated by reducing savings, analysts believe, which is especially true in the US and Europe. There, households accumulated savings during the worst period of COVID-19 due to the assistance received from the government and the lack of opportunities to spend money due to quarantine.

Meanwhile, higher energy and commodity prices will benefit producers, and the U.S. is currently the largest energy producer in the world. However, these positive effects are usually outweighed by the hit to consumers, experts say.

“The Russia-Ukraine conflict looks set to last longer than we expected, which will continue to undermine confidence and divert energy flows,” the report said. – There is a significant degree of uncertainty about how the conflict may develop, but so far it has not transcended the two countries, and the direct economic impact excluding higher energy and commodity prices is limited.”

As reported, S&P also worsened its GDP growth forecasts for some of the world’s largest economies over the next two years.

“A number of macroeconomic indicators have deteriorated since our last forecast in late March, including weaker first-quarter performance in many countries, higher energy and commodity prices, a longer-than-expected Russia-Ukraine conflict, faster normalization of monetary policy, and slower growth in China,” S&P GR said in a statement.

The US economy is now expected to expand by 2.4% this year and 2% in 2023. Previously, it was expected to increase by 3.2% and 2.1%, respectively.

For the eurozone, the forecast for 2022 is 2.7% and 2.2% for next year. Previously, a rise of 3.3% and 2.6% was assumed, respectively.

China’s GDP is expected to rise by 4.2% this year (against the previous estimate of 4.9%). At the same time, the forecast for the coming year has been improved to 5.3% from 5%.

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region as a whole is expected to rise by 4.6% (previously 5.1%) in 2022 and 5% (4.7%) in 2023.

The UK economy is likely to grow by 3.3% this year and 1.2% next year, up from 3.5% and 2.3% previously forecast respectively.

“The balance of risks to our baseline scenario has deteriorated since the last forecast and remains decidedly negative,” the agency said.