Press release No. 351 of 12 September 2019
Consumer price index, August 2019
+1.4% on the same month a year earlier (provisional result confirmed)
-0.2% on the previous month (provisional result confirmed)
Harmonised index of consumer prices, August 2019
+1.0% on the same month a year earlier (provisional result confirmed)
-0.1% on the previous month (provisional result confirmed)
WIESBADEN – The inflation rate in Germany as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) was 1.4% higher in August 2019 than in August 2018. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the rate of inflation was down (July 2019: +1.7%). Compared with July 2019, consumer prices decreased by 0.2% in August 2019.
Energy product prices rose 0.6% from August 2018 to August 2019. This increase was much smaller than the overall price increase. In July 2019 energy prices had risen by as much as +2.4% year on year. Marked year-on-year price increases were also recorded for district heating (+4.7%), natural gas (+4.6%) and electricity (+3.8%). In contrast, prices were markedly down for both heating oil (-5.2%) and motor fuels (-3.3%) compared with August 2018. Excluding energy prices, the inflation rate would have been +1.6% in August 2019; excluding the prices of mineral oil products, it would have been +1.7%.
Food prices rose above average (+2.7%) in August 2019 compared with August 2018. The year-on-year increase in food prices thus accelerated for the fifth consecutive month (July 2019: +2.1%). The prices of vegetables were much higher in August 2019 than a year earlier (+12.8%). Marked price rises were also recorded for meat and meat products (+4.3%) and for fish, fish products and seafood (+4.0%). In contrast, prices were down for a small number of products (for instance, edible fats and oils: -8.9%; fruit: -2.6%).
The prices of goods (total) were 1.3% higher in August 2019 than in the same month a year earlier. Apart from the above increases of energy prices (+0.6%) and food prices (+2.7%), prices were markedly up for newspapers and periodicals (+5.3%), tobacco products (+3.3%) and new passenger cars (+2.4%). However, the prices of other goods were down, in particular those of information processing equipment (-7.7%) and telephones (-7.1%).
Service prices rose more strongly (+1.6%) than goods prices from August 2018 to August 2019. A major factor contributing to the development of service prices was the increase in net rents exclusive of heating expenses (+1.4%), as households spend a large part of their consumption expenditure on this item. Much larger price increases were observed, for example, for services of social facilities (+5.7%), maintenance and repair of vehicles (+4.8%) and for catering services in restaurants, cafés and the like (+2.7%). Substantial price increases were also recorded for many services which are of comparatively little importance for consumption (for instance long-distance coaches: +18.5%; postal services: +10.6%; bank charges: +4.1%). The prices of some services were down, however, among them telecommunication services (-0.7%).
Change in August 2019 on July 2019
Compared with July 2019, the consumer price index fell by 0.2% in August 2019. The prices of energy (total) were down 1.0% in the same period. Price decreases were recorded for both motor fuels (-2.4%) and heating oil (-2.0%). There were sizeable price decreases also in the education sector for pre-primary and primary education services
(-3.0%) and for package holidays (-2.5%).
| Overall index / subindex | Weighting | Index 2015 = 100 | Change on the same period a year earlier | Change on the preceding month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in per mill | in per cent | |||
| 1 Results do not include charges. | ||||
| Overall index | 1,000.00 | 106.0 | 1.4 | -0.2 |
| Food and non-alcoholic-beverages | 96.85 | 107.7 | 2.3 | 0.2 |
| Food | 84.87 | 108.3 | 2.7 | 0.2 |
| Meat | 18.60 | 108.8 | 4.3 | 0.5 |
| Fruit | 8.88 | 106.8 | -2.6 | 1.5 |
| Vegetables | 11.08 | 111.6 | 12.8 | -0.6 |
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 37.77 | 111.1 | 2.1 | 0.0 |
| Clothing and footwear | 45.34 | 99.5 | 1.3 | 0.1 |
| Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels | 324.70 | 105.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 |
| Net rent exclusive of heating expenses | 196.32 | 105.7 | 1.4 | 0.1 |
| Household energy | 68.82 | 102.2 | 2.8 | -0.2 |
| Electricity | 25.92 | 107.2 | 3.8 | 0.1 |
| Gas1 | 13.53 | 96.0 | 4.6 | 0.1 |
| Heating oil1 | 7.01 | 111.5 | -5.2 | -2.0 |
| Furniture, lighting equipment, appliances and other household equipment | 50.04 | 102.3 | 0.8 | -0.1 |
| Health | 46.13 | 104.6 | 1.0 | 0.1 |
| Transport | 129.05 | 107.0 | 0.9 | -0.6 |
| Motor fuels | 35.01 | 104.6 | -3.3 | -2.4 |
| Supergrade petrol | 25.66 | 104.1 | -3.2 | -2.7 |
| Diesel fuel | 8.64 | 106.7 | -4.0 | -1.4 |
| Communication | 26.72 | 95.7 | -0.6 | 0.0 |
| Recreation and culture | 113.36 | 110.5 | 0.2 | -0.8 |
| Package holidays | 26.62 | 132.6 | -0.2 | -2.5 |
| Education | 9.02 | 101.7 | 1.1 | -0.9 |
| Restaurant and accommodation services | 46.77 | 110.2 | 2.7 | 0.1 |
| Miscellaneous goods and services | 74.25 | 106.2 | 2.4 | 0.2 |
| Overall index | ||||
| Excluding food and energy | 811.30 | 106.2 | 1.4 | -0.1 |
| Excluding energy (household energy and motor fuels) | 896.17 | 106.4 | 1.6 | 0.0 |
| Excluding heating oil and motor fuels | 957.98 | 106.1 | 1.7 | 0.0 |
| Goods | 468.16 | 104.3 | 1.3 | -0.2 |
| Non-durable consumer goods | 297.54 | 106.1 | 1.7 | -0.2 |
| Energy | 103.83 | 103.0 | 0.6 | -1.0 |
| Services | 531.84 | 107.5 | 1.6 | -0.1 |
Harmonised index of consumer prices for Germany
The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) for Germany, which is calculated for European purposes, was 1.0% higher in August 2019 than in August 2018. As in the previous month, the marked difference of 0.4 percentage points between the HICP and the CPI regarding the inflation rate in August 2019 is due to a special methodological effect concerning package holidays in the HICP. Compared with July 2019, the HICP was down 0.1% in August 2019.
More information on consumer price statistics is provided by Fachserie 17, Reihe 7.
Detailed data and long time series of consumer price statistics can also be found in the Genesis Online database in tables 61111-0004 and 61111-0006 (consumer price index) as well as in tables 61121-0002 and 61121-0004 (harmonised consumer price index).
Methodological notes:
In August 2019 the year-on-year change rate of the HICP is markedly lower (0.4 percentage points) than that of the CPI. This is largely due to a special methodological effect regarding the HICP: the revised CPI results at the beginning of the year had to be included also in the annual adjustment of the HICP weights and resulted in a smaller weight of package holidays in 2019. As usual, the weights of 2018 were not adjusted. Specifically, in August the strong seasonal effect concerning package holidays affected the 2019 HICP to a lesser degree than the 2018 HICP.
As a consequence, the HICP inflation rate was higher in August 2018 than that of the CPI (2.1% as compared with 1.9%) because of the stronger impact of the high package holiday prices due to the larger weight in the HICP than in the CPI in 2018. Now the effect is reversed. As HICP and CPI weights are comparable in 2019, the high prices in August have about the same effect (see month-on-month rates), while the high level of the HICP in August 2018 (105.2 as compared with 104.5 for the CPI) results in a lower HICP inflation rate in August 2019 (base effect).
