Germany: Harmonized inflation increases in August
Latest reading: Harmonized inflation rose to 2.1% in August from July’s 1.8%, matching market expectations. The moderation was broad-based, with lower price pressures recorded for food and non-alcoholic beverages, transportation, plus housing and utilities.
The trend was unchanged, with annual average harmonized inflation coming in at July’s 2.3% in August. Meanwhile, consumer price inflation ticked up to 2.2% in August from the previous month’s 2.0%.
Finally, harmonized consumer prices increased 0.15% from the previous month in August, a smaller increase than the 0.30% rise recorded in July.
Panelist insight: Commenting on the outlook, ING’s Carsten Brzeski stated:
“It remains to be seen how European and US companies will react to US tariffs. While one scenario could see prices falling in the eurozone due to overcapacity and weaker sales in the US, globally operating companies might try to actually increase prices in Europe in order to offset profit-squeezing in the US. A rather domestic theme will be the cooling of the German labour market, which should take away wage pressures and consequently inflationary pressures.”