inflation
Prices for heating and fuel are exploding, and food is also more expensive
Gasoline and diesel have also become much more expensive
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No reversal on the price front: Inflation is still at almost 5 percent in early 2022. Oil, gas and fuel in particular are becoming exorbitantly expensive. Some foods are also affected.
Anyone who hoped that the price situation would ease at the beginning of 2022 will be disappointed: although some statistical inflationary effects will disappear at the turn of the year, inflation in January will remain at a high level. The Federal Statistical Office has officially determined an increase of 4.9 percent compared to the previous year.
Although that is slightly less than the 5.3 percent from December, it is still not a turn away from high inflation rates. “The inflation rate weakened somewhat in January after reaching its highest level in almost 30 years in December. However, it remains at a high level,” commented Georg Thiel, President of the Federal Statistical Office, on the current figures. And this despite the fact that, for example, the VAT reduction that has been withdrawn since the beginning of the year has no longer played into the figures.
Persistent energy crisis
Consumers continue to groan, especially under the high energy prices, which are largely responsible for the high inflation rates. It is particularly blatant when heating with fossil fuels: within a year, heating oil has become 51.9 percent more expensive, natural gas by 32.2 percent. According to the statisticians, the reasons are continued supply bottlenecks caused by the crisis and the CO2 price, which rose again at the beginning of the year from 25 to 30 euros per tonne. In the case of gas, the development in recent weeks has been particularly dramatic: from December to January alone, prices rose by around 23 percent. Main supplier Russia has not been delivering as usual for months, which could drag on in view of the Ukraine crisis.
Consumers also have to pay significantly more for petrol and diesel: Fuel prices in January 2022 were 24.8 percent higher than in January 2021. Despite the reduction in the EEG surcharge, electricity is 11.1 percent more expensive than in the same month last year. If the energy prices are completely eliminated, according to the statisticians, inflation would have been only 3.2 percent in January.
Vegetables and dairy products are also more expensive
Apart from the energy costs, consumers sometimes have to dig deeper into their pockets when shopping for groceries. According to official statistics, food was five percent more expensive in January than a year ago and six percent more expensive than in December. The prices for fresh vegetables (plus 8.3 percent compared to the same month last year) as well as dairy products and butter (plus 6.3 percent) rose particularly sharply.
After many years of low inflation, prices had risen significantly over the past year. In 2021, the average inflation was 3.1 percent, for the whole of 2022 economists are currently expecting around 4 percent. The political goal is actually an inflation rate close to 2 percent.
Source: Federal Office of Statistics