Rising Energy Prices Send German Inflation To 13-Year High

Higher energy prices pushed Germany’s annual inflation to a 13-year high in August, as household energy, motor fuels, and food prices jumped, preliminary data showed on Monday.

Germany’s harmonized index of consumer prices—harmonized for comparability with other EU economies—increased by 3.4 percent in August compared to the same month a year earlier, and by 0.1 percent compared to July 2021, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany said in preliminary estimates today. The final figures for the August 2021 inflation in Europe’s largest economy will be released on September 10, 2021.

As per the preliminary figures from Monday, the harmonized inflation of 3.4 percent is the highest consumer prices increase since July 2008.

The national consumer price index for Germany was even higher in August, at 3.9 percent, according to the preliminary data.

“This is due to higher energy and food prices, while the core inflation probably even fell slightly from 2.9% to 2.8%,” Commerzbank analyst Ralph Solveen told Reuters.

“Higher producer prices on the back of supply chain disruptions, higher commodity prices and the gradual reopening of the economy are all impacting and will continue to impact consumer prices. Together with the reversal of the German VAT rate, headline inflation could even get close to 5% towards the end of the year,” Carsten Brzeski, Global Head of Macro at ING, said, commenting on the August inflation figures.

Earlier this month, the German government said that the jump in inflation in the summer is expected to be temporary.

Meanwhile, Spain also reported on Monday a jump in inflation to the highest in several years due to surging electricity prices, preliminary data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute showed.

The EU-harmonized consumer prices increased by 3.3 percent year over year in August, up from annual inflation of 2.9 percent in July. The inflation in August was the highest in 9 years, since the fall of 2012.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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