The inflation rate in Germany was 7.9 percent in August.
The Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced this on Tuesday after an initial estimate.
In July, the rate was 7.5 percent.
Christian Siedenbiedel
Editor in Business.
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Energy in particular has become more expensive compared to the previous year, but the price of numerous groceries has also increased significantly - including bread and rolls.
"Putin's war is putting a considerable strain on German consumers," commented Holger Schmieding, chief economist at the Hamburg bank Berenberg: "Food in particular has become more expensive again." Less well-off citizens who spend a large part of their income on food are hit particularly hard, means blacksmith.
The figures from North Rhine-Westphalia, which have already been published in more detail, provide information on the details.
Overall, food price inflation has accelerated further compared to the previous year, from 15.6 percent in July to 17.9 percent in August.
That's an extraordinary amount.
Bread and grain products cost 3.2 percent more in August than in the previous month;
Over the year as a whole, bread and rolls rose in price by 25 percent, butter by 45.8 percent and quark by 48.2 percent.
In addition, the Germans' desire to travel after two Corona summers is also reflected in the prices.
In August, vacationers had to pay 12.5 percent more for package tours than in the previous year – after a whopping increase of 10.1 percent in July.
Package tours are the main reason why the core rate of inflation in North Rhine-Westphalia, that is inflation without strongly fluctuating prices such as energy and food, rose from 2.8 to 3.1 percent in August, says Schmieding.
On the other hand, the net cold rents continued to dampen inflation with an unchanged increase of 1.5 percent compared to the previous year.
Household energy prices rose 51.6 percent year-on-year;
including that for heating oil by 81.8 percent.
Another surge in inflation is imminent
Nevertheless, the inflation rates at the moment have even been moderated somewhat by political influences.
The fuel discount and the nine-euro train ticket artificially reduced inflation for the months of June, July and August.
The inflation rate is therefore likely to rise again in September, when both political steps come to an end.
A veritable jump in prices is likely in October with the new gas surcharge.
The Bundesbank considers inflation rates close to 10 percent possible in the autumn months.
Jörg Krämer, the chief economist at Commerzbank, has made the following forecast: The elimination of the 9-euro ticket and the tank discount in September will increase inflation by around one percentage point.
In October, the gas surcharge should cause the inflation rate to jump again.
"People are facing another massive surge in inflation," said the economist: "That severely reduces their purchasing power - the risk of recession is increasing."
In the previous peak this year, the inflation rate in Germany had reached 7.9 percent in May.
Then came the political intervention and the price of oil fell a little at times.
In any case, in June the rate was 7.6 percent, a little lower than in May, and in July it was 7.5 percent.
How is the ECB reacting?
The high inflation rates are also relevant because the European Central Bank has to decide on future key interest rates on Thursday next week.
The inflation rate for the entire euro area in August will now be published on Wednesday by the European statistical office Eurostat.
In July it was 9.8 percent.
It will therefore be interesting to see whether it has already reached the 10 percent mark in August.
In any case, it is already in the double digits in numerous euro countries, for example in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, and in some, such as the Baltic States, it is even 20 percent or more.
The ECB is still debating how much interest rates should be raised.
A step of 0.5 percentage points is considered relatively likely.
That would be the same magnitude as the first rate hike in July.
However, given the high inflation, a number of members of the Governing Council have already spoken out in favor of a larger step of 0.75 percentage points.
At least there shouldn't be any "bans on thinking" on this question, Council members had said.
ECB chief economist Philip Lane, on the other hand, had recently dampened expectations somewhat.
A number of economists are also in favor of raising interest rates more sharply now.
Commerzbank chief economist Krämer has pushed ahead with the view that 4 percent interest rate would be appropriate to fight inflation.
In his estimation, the central bank should actually raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage points now.
Frederic Ducrozet, economist at the Swiss bank Pictet, also believes that given the inflation outlook, a stronger rate hike would be "probably justified".
Karsten Junius from the Swiss bank Sarasin expressed a similar view: "The ECB must also discuss stronger interest rate hikes - the longer inflation rates remain high, the more inflation expectations become established." And ZEW economist Friedrich Heinemann warned: