Rising inflation to impact cost of living, says The Continental Group survey

The Continental Group, a leading insurance intermediary and financial services provider in the GCC region, recently hosted a webinar titled ‘Can inflation be tamed? Learn from the experts', where finance specialists demystified inflation and its impact. While the survey respondents wholly agreed that rising inflation will impact their cost of living, over two-thirds said they still view equity markets favourably.

Joseph Graham, CFA, Managing Director & Investment Strategist, Lord Abbett; Atul Penkar, Senior Portfolio Manager, Aditya Birla Sunlife AMC; and Neelam Verma, Vice President & Head of Investments, The Continental Group; were the key speakers at the webinar, which was hosted by Anselm Mendes, Executive Director of Sales, The Continental Group.

The webinar was conducted in light of rising inflation across the globe due to many causal factors, including the uneven post-pandemic recovery, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and tense geopolitics. The inflation impact is seemingly not lost on the public as evident from the survey findings: 41 per cent of respondents cited inflation as the biggest threat to the global economy this year, followed by rising crude oil prices (30 per cent) and widespread uncertainties (30 per cent). Furthermore, about 38 per cent of respondents said inflation will impact their cost of living by more than 20 per cent.

“The last prominent inflation was in the 70s, the data of which is rather thin and inapplicable to modern-day circumstances. In previous inflationary cycles, the curves were flattened through rate hikes, etc. In today’s case, however, with complex causal factors, the possibility of further steepening cannot be ruled out,” said Joseph Graham. “Directly, people are witnessing it through higher domestic fuel prices. Indirectly, the impact will be felt through a rise in transportation and food costs, etc. The impact is across the board,” added Atul Penkar.

— business@khaleejtimes.com