Federal Statistical Office Inflation rate rises to ten percent
No more 9-euro tickets, no more gas discounts: inflation accelerated in September. According to an estimate by the Federal Statistical Office, it climbed to 10.0 percent nationwide.
Inflation in Germany is rising and rising: The Federal Statistical Office estimates the inflation rate in September at 10.0 percent. In August, the annual rate had already risen to 7.9 percent after two months of slight easing.
Following the expiry of the fuel discount and 9-euro ticket at the end of August, economists had already expected a significant jump in consumer prices in September compared with the same month last year. They had assumed that the inflation rate would approach the 10 percent mark.
Inflation rate in Germany, year-on-year change in percent
Price jumps for energy as a result of the Ukraine war and rising food prices have been fueling inflation in Europe’s largest economy for months. Higher inflation rates reduce consumers’ purchasing power because they can afford fewer goods per euro. People’s financial leeway is shrinking.
Inflation rates at the current level have never been seen before in reunified Germany. The only time there were similarly high rates was in the 1970s at the time of the oil crisis in the old.
Initial data from the German states already showed that inflation in Germany increased massively in September. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, annual inflation rose to 10.1 percent, the highest level since the early 1950s, according to the State Statistics Office in Düsseldorf. In August, it was still at August: 8.1 percent. In Bavaria, inflation even climbed to 10.8 percent, in Brandenburg to 9.9 percent, in Baden-Württemberg to 9.5 percent and in Hesse to 9.4 percent.
In NRW, Germany’s most populous state, goods and services in the transport sector in particular became more expensive from August to September. “The main price drivers were so-called combined passenger transport services due to the abolition of the 9-euro ticket and fuel prices,” the statement said.
In view of the energy crisis, leading economic research institutes are predicting a significant loss of purchasing power among private households. The situation will worsen in the coming year, as the highest consumer prices for energy are not expected until mid-2023, said economic researcher Torsten Schmidt of the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. Private consumption will not recover until 2024, he added. In their fall report, the institutes forecast a recession for Germany.
