Source: BestBrokers.com
The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point on Wednesday as persistent inflation and higher energy prices continue to put pressure on the economy, while the Bank of England is expected to hold its 3.75% rate despite UK inflation rising to 3.1% in August. Amid elevated prices and higher costs of living in most parts of the world, I am reaching out with our latest analysis examining the countries where annual inflation accelerated the most between July and August 2026.
To identify the countries where inflationary pressures are intensifying, the team at BestBrokers compared annual inflation rates for 93 countries with available August 2026 data. We measured the change in each country’s inflation rate between July and August, rather than comparing monthly price movements. The figures were collected from national statistical offices and Trading Economics, with the dataset available on Google Drive via this link.
The analysis shows that the biggest acceleration was recorded in Pakistan and Fiji, where between July and August, annual inflation rose by 1.9 percentage points. Rwanda follows with a 1.2-point increase, while Senegal recorded a 0.9-point rise. Among major economies, inflation also accelerated notably in Spain, going up from 3.6% to 4.3%, while in Italy it intensified from 2.9% to 3.3%, and in the United Kingdom, from 2.9% to 3.1%.
Other key findings from the report:
- Pakistan and Fiji recorded the sharpest acceleration in price growth, with annual inflation in both countries heating up by 1.9 percentage points in August. Pakistan’s rate climbed from 9.2% in July to 11.1%, while Fiji’s increased from 5.7% to 7.6%.
- Rwanda also saw a notable 1.2-point acceleration as yearly inflation rose from 14.5% in July to 15.7% in August, while Senegal recorded a 0.9-percentage-point increase – from just 0.3% in July to 1.2% in August.
- European countries experienced significant uptake in inflation, too, with Kosovo recording an increase by 0.8 percentage points to 7.3%, while Moldova, Montenegro, and Spain both recorded 0.7-point rises to 7%, 4.5%, and 4.3%.
- Inflation moved in the opposite direction in Romania, with annual rates falling by 2 percentage points from July to August to 6.2%. Still, this remains the highest inflation in the European Union.
- Argentina and Turkey currently have the world’s highest inflation at 33.50% and 31.51%, respectively. Sizable price increases for August were also recorded in Rwanda (15.70%), Ethiopia (15.10%), Egypt (14.50%), Mongolia (12.50%), Pakistan (11.10%), and Kazakhstan (9.80%).
‘When inflation accelerates, the consequences tend to reach well beyond families’ budgets. Households find their purchasing power squeezed, while businesses face rising costs and tougher decisions over prices, wages, and investment. The latest figures also show how uneven the global inflation picture remains, with some countries seeing a renewed rise in price pressures, while others are moving in the opposite direction. That divergence makes the policy response more complicated, particularly for central banks trying to balance inflation against economic growth. For consumers, however, even a relatively small acceleration can matter if it persists and begins to erode incomes over time.’
– comments Alan Goldberg from BestBrokers.
Additional details about the countries with the highest and lowest inflation rates in August 2026 can be found in the full report. It also features the places where inflation continues to go up, along with the methodology behind our findings, while the full dataset we compiled is available on Google Drive via this link.