European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane urged a “steady pace” of interest-rate increases in fighting record inflation to minimize negative consequences -- seeming to push back after some of his colleagues floated a 75 basis-point hike at next week’s meeting, Bloomberg News reported.

The Czech Republic will convene an emergency meeting of European Union energy ministers on Sept. 9 to find a bloc-wide agreement on tackling surging power costs, potentially through capping the price of gas used in electricity production, Reuters reported. Europe's electricity costs have soared since Russia curbed gas supplies to Europe, sending prices of the fuel sharply higher, and there are fears Moscow could cut flows further in retaliation for Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

The volume of retail sales fell by 8.1 per cent in the year to July as sales of motors, food, beverages, and tobacco all saw double digit reductions despite the easing of the Covid-19 emergency, the latest data from the Central Statistics Office shows, the Irish Times reported. Four sectors showed an annual increase in the volume of sales. The largest of these was in bars where sales soared by 56.8 per cent compared with July 2021 when some Covid-19 restrictions still applied. However, bar sales remained 8.4 per cent lower than pre-Covid-19 levels in February 2020.

SAS AB, which is working its way through a chapter 11 restructuring in the U.S., warned that much more needs to be done to persuade stakeholders to invest in the ailing Scandinavian airline, Bloomberg News reported. The airline is also having to overcome the effects of a pilots’ strike and travel disruptions that have hampered its important summer season, just as the price of kerosene has skyrocketed and inflation is accelerating.

Some European Central Bank officials want to begin a debate by year-end on when and how to shrink the almost 5 trillion euros ($5 trillion) of bonds accumulated during recent crises, Bloomberg News reported. Deciding how to go about the process -- known as quantitative tightening -- is the logical next step after the ECB raised interest rates for the first time since 2011 in July. The Governing Council hasn’t discussed the issue yet, and it’s unclear when the best moment would be to start reducing the balance sheet, given the increasing likelihood of a recession in the 19-member euro zone.

For months, a tsunami of high energy costs has borne down on Europe. On Friday, the first big waves crashed ashore in Britain, with the news that household gas and electricity bills will nearly double in October, the New York Times reported. The announcement, by Britain’s energy regulator, raised the specter of a humanitarian crisis in one of the world’s richest countries: Millions of Britons might not be able to afford to heat or light their homes this winter, unless the government steps in on an enormous scale to cushion them from the vagaries of the market.

European energy extended its blistering rally as the worst supply crunch in decades heightens pressure on politicians to do more to rescue industries and households, Bloomberg News reported. German and French power soared to fresh records on further nuclear reactor outages, as benchmark natural gas futures jumped as much as 11%. The fuel is near the level last seen in the early weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when prices had hit unprecedented intraday highs.

Germany will keep exporting electricity to neighboring France despite calling on people to help fend off winter shortages by saving energy at home, officials said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Problems at French nuclear plants have driven up electricity prices there in recent months, prompting power companies in neighboring countries to sell excess energy to France. “Only half of France’s nuclear power plants are operating,” said Patrick Graichen, Germany’s deputy economy and energy minister.

Pilots at Lufthansa have rejected a wage offer by Germany's flagship carrier and could go on strike anytime, union VC said on Thursday, as a dispute over pay continues, Reuters reported. They had voted in favour of industrial action last month, threatening further disruption during the busy summer travel season. VC said that Lufthansa's most recent offer had been a step in the right direction but remained short of the union's demands, which include a 5.5% pay rise this year for its pilots and automatic inflation compensation thereafter.

This inability to find people to hire has spread across the British economy, in virtually all industries, and the solution chosen by many employers — higher pay — is embedding inflationary pressures deeper into an economy where prices are soaring, the New York Times reported. Last week, Britons learned that the annual rate of inflation reached 10.1 percent in July, the fastest pace since 1982, as energy prices rose and businesses passed higher costs — for supplies but also labor — onto their customers. In some ways it’s a great time to be a worker in the hospitality business.