Estimations from the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) suggest that the country’s inflation rate saw a significant dip during October 2023. Energy prices are stabilising, but food is still seeing a year-on-year price increase.
Estimated October figures suggest that the inflation rate in Germany is continuing its steady monthly decline. Compared to September, when the rate sat at 4,5 percent, prices in Europe’s largest economy are now only 3,8 percent more expensive than one year ago.
This is the lowest figure, not just since the Russian invasion of Ukraine - which drove up the price of energy astronomically - but also since August 2021, when Germany was still in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
Statisticians at Destatis cited energy prices as one of the main reasons for the inflation rate “dampening”. The cost of energy is now 3,2 percent lower than in October 2022, before this, year-on-year energy prices last declined back in January 2021. Compared to its EU neighbours however, energy prices in Germany were the highest in the block in the first half of 2023, according to the EU’s official statistical office Eurostat.
In contrast, the cost of food and services in Germany were still significantly higher in October 2023 than they were in October 2022.
Getting your weekly shopping in Germany will set you back 6,1 percent more than it would have in October 2022, and food prices in the federal republic have not seen a lower year-on-year increase since all the way back in February 2022.
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