By Maria Martinez 
 

German consumer prices rose strongly in October, beating forecasts, according to preliminary data released by the German statistics office Destatis on Thursday.

Consumer prices rose 4.5% on year measured by national standards, above the forecast of 4.4% of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. They rose 4.6% on year by European Union-harmonized standards, above the forecast of 4.5%.

The increase in the inflation rate is caused mainly by base effects due to lower prices in 2020, the statistics office said. In this context, the temporary value added tax reduction and the sharp decline in mineral-oil-product prices also had an upward effect on the overall inflation rate, Destatis said.

Additional factors were the introduction of carbon-dioxide pricing in January 2021 and pandemic-related effects, such as marked price increases during the stage of economic recovery, the statistics office said.

Consumer prices rose 0.5% on month by national standards, in line with the forecast of economists polled by the Journal. Prices increased also by 0.5% by EU-harmonized standards, above the 0.4% forecasts of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

Final results will be released on Nov. 10.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2021 08:25 ET (12:25 GMT)

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