German consumer price growth accelerated in June

According to the report from Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the inflation rate in Germany, measured as the year-on-year change in the consumer price index, stood at +0.9% in June 2020. Hence the inflation rate increased slightly in June 2020 (May 2020: +0.6%). Destatis also reports that consumer prices rose by 0.6% compared with May 2020.

The prices of goods (total) rose by just 0.2% from June 2019 to June 2020, which is mainly due to the decreases in energy prices (-6.2%). The price decrease thus slowed (May 2020: -8.5%), above all due to the increase in oil prices in the world market. Especially the prices of heating oil (-26.5%) and motor fuels (-15.1%) were down in June 2020 on the same month of the preceding year, whereas electricity prices were up 4.1%. Also, Food prices increased above average (+4.4%). Prices were up in particular for fruit (+11.1%) and for meat and meat products (+8.2%), while the prices of edible fats and oils declined (-3.6%). Other notable price rises were observed for tobacco products (+6.2%) as well as newspapers and periodicals (+4.5%), while price decreases were recorded, for example, for information processing equipment (-4.9%).

The marked year-on-year decrease in energy product prices had a downward effect on the inflation rate. Excluding energy product prices, the inflation rate would have been +1.6% in June 2020; excluding the prices of energy products and food, it would have been just +1.3%.