By Maria Martinez
German consumer prices rose sharply in January, beating expectations, according to preliminary data released by the German statistics office Destatis on Thursday.
On a year-on-year basis, consumer prices rose 1.0% measured by national standards, more than the 0.7% increase expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% on year by European Union-harmonized standards, also more than the 0.5% rise expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
The inflation rate increase was driven not only by the reversal of the temporary VAT cut, but also by other factors such as carbon pricing and the increase of the minimum wage, Destatis said.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% on month by national standards and 1.4% by EU-harmonized standards. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast that prices would rise 0.4% by national standards and 0.3% by EU-harmonized standards on month.
The coronavirus pandemic and its related restrictions caused pricing collection problems again in January as some products weren't available in the market, Destatis said. Final results for January will be released on Feb. 10.
Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-28-21 0831ET
