Annual inflation accelerated slightly in three German states in September, data showed today, in an early sign price pressures may tick up in the euro zone as a whole.
German state data offer some of the first indications of price trends in the euro zone, where the annual inflation rate was expected to rise to 1.8 per cent in September, according to a preliminary Reuters poll of economists.
The inflation rates in the three German states - ranging from 1.0 per cent to 1.5 per cent - were broadly in line with expectations for Germany as a whole, tipped at 1.2 per cent. Annual inflation was unchanged at 1.0 per cent in a fourth state.
Last month, German inflation stood at 1.0 per cent.
"Prices will only move slightly upwards in the near future," Commerzbank economist Simon Junker. "Inflation poses no problem for the coming year or two. The (European Central Bank) should have other worries than price development."
Month-on-month, consumer prices fell slightly in three of the four German states for which data were available, with prices up only in Saxony, by 0.1 per cent.
In Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, annual inflation registered 1.1 per cent in September after 1.0 per cent in August, the state's statistics office said, while prices fell 0.2 per cent on the month after a 0.2 per cent rise.
Reuters