WIESBADEN (dpa-AFX) – The already high inflation in Germany continues to increase. In December, producer prices rose by 24.2 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday in Wiesbaden. This is the strongest increase since the surveys began in 1949. Analysts’ expectations were clearly exceeded; they had expected growth of 19.3 percent on average. Month-on-month, the prices manufacturers receive for their goods rose 5.0 percent. This is also a record increase.
According to the statisticians, energy prices continue to be primarily responsible for the development. Energy was 69 percent more expensive in December than a year earlier. Compared to November, energy prices also rose sharply by 15.7 percent. Natural gas and electricity rose the most, with annual rates of 121.9 and 74.3 percent, respectively. There were also high price increases for intermediate goods such as metals, fertilizers and wood. The increases are the result of increasing demand with sometimes severely limited supply due to considerable tensions in world trade.
In 2021 as a whole, producer prices rose by 10.5 percent compared to the previous year. In 2020, on the other hand, they had fallen by 1.0 percent.
Producer prices are included in consumer prices, which the European Central Bank (ECB) bases its monetary policy on. Inflation in both Germany and the eurozone is currently well above the ECB’s target of two percent. The ECB still regards the development as predominantly temporary and driven by special factors./bgf/mis