Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday
its preliminary estimate showed the country’s consumer price index (CPI) is
expected to record a 0.5 percent m-o-m gain in December after dropping 0.2
percent m-o-m in the previous month.
On a y-o-y basis, Germany’s CPI is seen to climb 5.3 percent in December,
following a 5.2 percent surge in November. This would be the largest increase
since June 1992.
Economists had forecast inflation would increase 0.4 percent m-o-m and 5.1
percent y-o-y in December.
According to the report, energy prices climbed 18.3 percent y-o-y in December,
decelerating from 22.1 percent y-o-y in the previous month. Meanwhile, food
prices rose 6.0 percent y-o-y, hastening from 4.5 percent y-o-y in November,
and services costs went up 3.1 percent y-o-y, accelerating from 2.9 percent
y-o-y in the prior month.
Meanwhile, the harmonized index of consumer prices for Germany (HICP),
which is calculated for European purposes, is projected to rise 0.3 percent
m-o-m and 5.7 percent y-o-y in December. In November, the HICP recorded gains
of 0.3 percent m-o-m and 6.0 percent y-o-y.
On an annual average, the inflation rate is seen to stand at 3.1 percent
in 2021.