BERLIN: Inflation in Germany hit a record high of 7.9% in August for the second time this year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced.
Government measures such as a cheap €9 ticket for public transport and a fuel discount had a “slight downward effect on headline inflation”, Destatis chairman Georg Thiel said. increases in transportation prices gradually slowing from 16.3% in May to 3.7% in May. August.
However, the fuel discount for Europe’s biggest economy expired last week and prices at the pump immediately jumped, Xinhua news agency reports.
Standard fuel cost 1.99 euros per liter and was 21.6 cents more expensive than at the end of August.
Meanwhile, diesel prices rose by 8.2 cents to 2.16 euros, according to the German Automobile Club (ADAC).
“The main reason for high inflation remains rising energy and food prices,” Thiel said.
While food prices rose 16.6% year-on-year, energy prices rose more than four times faster than inflation levels and rose 35.6% “despite the measures relief”.
Without energy and food price increases, headline consumer price inflation in Germany would be 4.4 percentage points lower, according to Destatis.
Natural gas saw particularly high price increases of 83.8%, while light fuel oil prices more than doubled.
Among food products, prices for edible fats and oils, as well as dairy products and eggs, recorded the largest increases of 44.5% and 26.8%, respectively.
To cushion the impact of high inflation on businesses and consumers, the German government recently announced relief measures amounting to €65 billion, bringing the total inflation measures to €95 billion. euros.
The package also includes a one-time payment to help households pay their heating bills during the winter.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner warned last week that high levels of inflation were a “program of impoverishment for families in the middle of society”.
The ifo Institute expects inflation in Germany to rise further to 9.3% in 2023, leading to a sharp drop in real incomes.
Although the measures of the latest relief plan should “counteract this decline somewhat, they will be far from compensating for it”, warned the institute.
