Frankfurt am Main (AFP) – Inflation in Europe’s largest economy Germany picked up in January, preliminary data showed Monday, although the headline number was not as high as analysts had expected.
Consumer prices rose by 1.9 percent year-on-year, federal statistics office Destatis said, up from a rate of 1.7 percent recorded in December.
The last time inflation was that high in Germany was in July 2013, the statisticians added.
Analysts surveyed by Factset had been penciling in an inflation rate of 2.0 percent for December.
A pick-up in recent months — from 0.8 percent in both October and November to 1.7 percent in December — has been largely attributed to rising oil prices.
Energy prices rose 5.8 percent in January, Destatis calculated — more than double the rate in December — while food prices rose by 3.2 percent.
That far outpaced prices for services, which grew just 1.2 percent.
The January data means that inflation in Germany is in line with the European Central Bank’s target of close to but just below 2.0 percent.
But the eurozone’s economic powerhouse has recently outpaced its neighbours in the 19-nation single currency area, with the 1.7 percent inflation it recorded in December higher than the bloc-wide average of 1.1 percent.
Destatis will release definitive inflation data for January on February 14.
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