Highest level in 29 years: inflation in Germany rises to 5.2 percent in November

The prices in Germany keep rising.

As the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday after an initial estimate, the inflation rate in November was 5.2 percent.

That was the highest rate of inflation in 29 years.

In October the rate was 4.5 percent.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in business.

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Consumers feel the price increase in the supermarket, at the gas station and even in the morning at the bakery.

However, the prices for many raw materials and intermediate products have risen even more sharply.

Prices are significantly higher across the board than a year ago, even if energy in particular is driving inflation.

The state statistical offices published more detailed figures on this.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, the prices for mineral oil products such as heating oil and gasoline rose by 51.9 percent.

Food prices rose by 4.2 percent.

The price increases were particularly strong for edible fats and oils with a plus of 11.2 percent.

Margarine and butter cost 14.1 and 11.5 percent more than a year earlier.

Fruit, on the other hand, was 1.1 percent cheaper.

With this inflation rate, Germany is in the upper midfield among the countries of the euro zone.

In October, for example, the inflation rate in Lithuania was 8.2 percent.

In Spain, the inflation rate rose to 5.6 percent in November, the highest level in almost 30 years.

The November inflation rate for the euro area as a whole will be released on Tuesday;

it is likely to be a little lower than that in Germany.

The ECB leadership is trying to calm down

The European Central Bank, which will decide on its further monetary policy on December 16, tried to reassure the people in view of the high inflation. ECB board member Isabel Schnabel said in the ZDF morning magazine: “We assume that inflation will peak in November and that inflation will gradually decline again in the coming year.” At the same time, Schnabel emphasized that they “understand very well “Could mean that many people are currently worried about inflation. "We all notice that a lot of things around us are getting more expensive, at the bakery or with heating costs."

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, ECB President Christine Lagarde also affirmed that the central bank considers the current rise in inflation rates to be only temporary.

"We do not expect this rise in inflation to last," said Lagarde.

"That will calm down next year."