Eurozone inflation hit a new record high of 5 percent in December 2021, raising more questions about the competency of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policy, which claimed that inflation was transitory. Inflation rose unexpectedly last month, making things more uncomfortable for the ECB authorities, who have consistently underestimated price pressures and the heavy criticism from some of its own policymakers. The 19 countries in the Euro bloc saw inflation rise to 5 percent from 4.9 percent in November, far higher than analysts’ expectation of 4.7 percent. Higher energy prices, which are up 26 percent compared to the previous year, remained the main cause of inflation. Increases in the price of food, services, and imported goods were also well above the ECB’s overall inflation target of 2 percent, according to data from Eurostat. Its last internal forecast in December optimistically put future inflation at 1.8 percent in both 2023 and 2024. The …