According to the final report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in April, consumer prices rose by 2.2% after a similar increase in March. This is the lowest value since May 2021. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose by 0.5%, accelerating compared to March (+0.4%), and recording the strongest growth since May 2023. Economists had expected CPI growth of 2.2% per annum and 0.5% on a monthly basis.
"The rate of inflation has been below 3% since the start of the year. Energy and food prices, in particular, have had a dampening effect on the inflation rate since January 2024. However, core inflation has been higher than overall inflation since the beginning of the year”, says Ruth Brand, President of the Federal Statistical Office.
The data also showed that in April, energy prices fell by 1.2% per year, despite the discontinuation of the brake on energy prices from January 2024 onwards and the introduction of a higher carbon price, also from January 2024. In March, energy prices decreased by 2.7%. Prices of household energy fell by 3.2% per annum. Price reductions were recorded for wood pellets and other solid fuels (-7.9%), electricity (-7.8%) and natural gas (-5.4%). By contrast, the prices of some energy products were higher than a year earlier, particularly district heating (+27.4%), heating oil (+6.2%) and motor fuels (+2.0%). Food prices rose by 0.5% per year after declining by 0.7% per year in March. Meanwhile, the CPI excluding energy and food rose by 3.0% per year after an increase of 3.3% per annum in March.
Destatis said that in April, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in Germany with inflation in European countries - rose by 0.6% on a monthly basis and by 2.4% per annum. In March, HICP increased by 0.6% m/m and rose by 2.3% per annum.