--German consumer prices rose 1.7% on year by national standards

--Coronavirus restrictions caused pricing collection problems again in March

--Consumer prices rose 0.5% on month by both national standards and EU-harmonized standards

 
   By Maria Martinez 
 

German consumer prices rose in March, confirming preliminary data, the German statistics office Destatis said Thursday.

On year, consumer prices rose 1.7% measured by national standards, in line with the forecasts of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

Consumer prices rose 2.0% on year by European Union-harmonized standards, also in line with forecasts.

Consumer prices rose 0.5% on month by both national standards and EU-harmonized standards. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast that prices would rise 0.5% by national and EU-harmonized standards on month.

The prices of goods rose 1.9% year-on-year. Food prices rose 1.6% on year, with particularly higher prices for fruit and dairy products.

Energy-product prices were 4.8% higher than a year earlier. Following the 0.3% rise in February, the year-on-year price increase accelerated markedly and had an upward effect on the inflation rate. Excluding energy prices, the inflation rate would have been 1.4% in March instead of 1.7%.

The prices of services were up 1.6% in March compared with the same month a year earlier, Destatis says.

The coronavirus pandemic and its related restrictions caused pricing collection problems again in March as some products weren't available in the market, the German statistics office said.

 

Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 15, 2021 02:33 ET (06:33 GMT)

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