Consumer Congestion, Higher Energy Prices, Loose Monetary Policy: Is Massive Inflation Looming After Covid-19?

Inflation was not an issue to worry about for a long time. In Germany and other advanced economies, inflation has tended to fall rather than rise in recent decades. Since the beginning of this year, however, inflation in Germany has accelerated sharply. In August 2021, the inflation rate reached a level that was 3.9 percent above the corresponding level in the same month of the previous year. What factors have influenced this current development? Is inflation returning, in the sense of a sustained and broad-based stronger rise in prices?