FRANKFURT — Inflation in Germany fell to 9.2 percent in January from 9.6 percent in December, much-awaited preliminary data released by the German statistics office showed Thursday.
Compared to December, prices rose 0.5 percent, the data showed.
Analysts polled by Reuters had generally expected inflation to rise 10.0 percent from January 2022 and 1.2 percent from December.
Technical problems at Germany’s statistics office delayed the release of the data and meant that the European statistics agency, Eurostat, had to report January’s inflation numbers using an estimate for Germany only. That estimate for the eurozone put inflation at 8.5 percent in January, up from 9.2 percent in December.
As part of a regular process, Germany’s consumer price index has been revised Effective January 2023, the Consumer Price Index is reset from 2015 to the base year 2020. In this context, the results are recalculated from January 2020, the statistics office said
Unadjusted, national data showed inflation rose 1 percent in the month and 8.7 percent on the year.
ZEW economist Friedrich Heinemann said the data suggested inflation had peaked in Germany. “However, anyone who takes this as an opportunity to warn the European Central Bank against further interest rate hikes suffers from a distorted view,” he said. “Even the expected decline in inflation from now on does not change the fact that the ECB is still well short of its two percent target.”