The Yiddish phrase “farshlepteh krenk”, untranslatable into English, describes an illness that just won’t go away. That is how some rich countries’ experience of inflation has felt. The rate of price increases has fallen sharply since the acute phase in 2022, when inflation across the OECD rose to nearly 11%, its highest since the 1970s. In June average inflation across the club was around 2.5%, only a smidge above most central banks’ targets. But many Anglophone countries still have lingering symptoms.
