Germany's consumer price index rose in line with forecasts in February

According to the report from Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the inflation rate in Germany, he year-on-year change in the consumer price index, stood at 1.7% in February 2020. The inflation rate thus remained unchanged (January 2020: +1.7%). Destatis also reports that consumer prices rose by 0.4% compared with January 2020.

The prices of goods (total) were up 1.8% in February 2020 on the same month a year earlier. Especially food prices increased above average (+3.3%). Marked price increases were recorded for fruit (+9.0%) as well as meat and meat products (+8.0%). The increase in meat prices was also observed at upstream stages of the economic process.

The price development of food and energy had an upward effect on the inflation rate in February 2020. Excluding food and energy prices, the inflation rate would have been +1.5% in February 2020.

Prices of services (total) rose by +1.6% in February 2020 on a year earlier; this price increase was slightly smaller than that recorded for goods. Net rents exclusive of heating expenses, which are important as they account for a large part of household final consumption expenditure, rose by 1.5%. Above-average price increases were observed, for example, for services of social facilities (+4.4%) and for the maintenance and repair of vehicles (+3.8%). The price developments in education (-2.3%) and telecommunication (-0.5%) had a slight downward effect on the inflation rate.