Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, energy prices have risen particularly sharply and continue to have a "substantial impact on the high inflation rate," Destatis noted. Energy prices increased by 35.6 percent year-on-year.
Prices for food rose more than twice as fast as overall inflation. Marked price increases at economic upstream stages as well as COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions had an "upward effect" on consumer prices, according to Destatis.
High inflation is more than offsetting wage increases in Europe's largest economy. Although the index of nominal wages in the second quarter rose 2.9 percent year-on-year, real wages were down 4.4 percent.
To cushion the effects of high inflation, the German government set up relief packages totaling 30 billion euros (30 billion U.S. dollars). Measures such as the 9-euro public transport ticket or the fuel discount expire in September, and successors are currently being considered.
The end of the temporary relief measures is "further delaying the downward trend in the inflation rate," Fritzi Koehler-Geib, head of research at the country's promotional bank KfW, said.
The bank expects annual inflation in Germany to peak at 8.4 percent in 2022 before falling to 5.1 percent in 2023. No normalization is expected before 2024.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised that further relief measures would be introduced quickly. Citizens would be supported so they could "deal with increased prices, with inflation, so that no one is left alone with their problems." (1 euro = 1 U.S. dollar)
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