German Consumer Prices Fell in December, in Line With Forecasts -- Update
19 January 2021 - 07:09PM
Dow Jones News
--German consumer prices fell 0.3% on year by national standards
and declined 0.7% on EU-harmonized standards
--The decrease was again driven by a reduction in
value-added-tax
--On the month, consumer prices rose 0.5% by national standards
and 0.6% by EU-harmonized standards
By Maria Martinez
German consumer prices declined further in December compared
with the same month a year before, confirming preliminary data,
German statistics agency Destatis said Tuesday.
On a year-on-year basis, consumer prices fell 0.3% by national
standards, in line with the drop expected by economists polled by
The Wall Street Journal.
Consumer prices declined 0.7% year-on-year by EU-harmonized
standards, as expected by economists polled by The Wall Street
Journal.
On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose 0.5% by national
standards and 0.6% by EU-harmonized standards, meeting projections
by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
The inflation rate was partly influenced by the temporary
value-added-tax reduction that became effective at the beginning of
July, the statistics office said.
In 2020, consumer prices in Germany rose 0.5% on an annual
average compared with 2019, Destatis said. The increase was
markedly below the 1.4% rise recorded in 2019. Destatis said a
lower annual rate of price increases was last measured in 2009
during the financial crisis, when there was an average annual
increase of 0.3%.
The prices of energy products fell 4.8% in 2020, following a
1.4% rise in 2019. In addition to the VAT reduction, this was
mainly due to the oil price slump in the world market during the
first months of the year, Destatis said.
Food prices rose 2.4% in 2020, the statistics office said.
Marked price increases were recorded for fruit, which rose 7.1%, as
well as meat and meat products, which increased 6.1%.
The prices of goods were down 0.4% compared to 2019, while the
prices of services rose 1.3%, Destatis said. In addition to an
increase in the minimum wage, compliance with sanitary measures to
prevent Covid-19 infections can be expected to have contributed to
the increase in services prices in 2020, Destatis said.
Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 19, 2021 02:54 ET (07:54 GMT)
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