VIENNA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Austria's inflation surged to 7.7 percent in May, the highest level since April 1976, Statistics Austria said on Friday.
The May inflation rate was 0.5 percentage points higher than that in April.
Tobias Thomas, director general of Statistics Austria, said in a statement that rising energy, fuel and food prices were the main drivers of inflation in May.
The Austrian government on Tuesday unveiled a massive package of long-term measures to combat the soaring inflation, including increasing social benefits for the unemployed and other vulnerable groups.
The anti-inflation package is expected to cost 6 billion euros (6.28 billion U.S. dollars) this year and 28 billion euros until 2026. (1 euro = 1.05 U.S. dollars) ■