According to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 4.9% year-on-year in January 2022. The data thus show a slowdown for the first time, as in December 2021, the CPI still rose by 5.3%.
The Federal Statistical Office believes that inflation figures are still very high and states that:
“The inflation rate remains high despite the absence of the base effects caused in 2021 by the temporary reduction of value added tax rates and the sharp decline in mineral oil product prices in 2020. Crisis-related effects such as delivery bottlenecks and significant price increases at upstream stages in the economic process as well as in energy prices continue to have an impact.”
“For the second year in a row, the coronavirus pandemic, the associated restrictions on public life and the resulting consequences required a changed approach to the updating of the product weights used in the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP). A methodological paper which discusses this issue is provided on the webpage of the Federal Statistical Office”
Thus, the Federal Statistical Office will once again adjust the weighting of the measurement of consumer prices so that the figures are not getting too high.
According to Destatis, prices for food rose by 3%, services by 5%, and prices for energy products increased by 20.5%.
The German Council of Economic Experts expects inflation to remain high in Germany this year. It forecasts an average inflation rate of 2.6%.