Rising 1.7% in February, before the outbreak of the crisis of the sars coronavirus, the inflation rate had fallen to 1.4% in march and 0.9% in April.
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The price increase in Germany has again slowed down in may, inflation fell to 0.6% year on year, its lowest level since 2016, while the pandemic of sars coronavirus has led the country into recession.
Rising 1.7% in February, before the outbreak of the crisis of the sars coronavirus, the inflation rate had fallen to 1.4% in march and 0.9% in April.
On one month, prices have even declined by 0.1%, according to final figures released on Tuesday by the Office for national statistics.
The final data are consistent with the preliminary figures published at the end of may.
Oil prices in particular have declined significantly during the period.
Energy prices have fallen 8.5% year on year, while those of food increased 4.5% compared to may 2019.
The fresh products such as vegetables and meat have become significantly more expensive with +10.5% and +9.2 per cent, respectively, while the price of heating oil has fallen to 30.5%.
Inflation is stable for the services, at 1.3%, with a price rise of 4.4% for hairdressers and 2.4% in bars and cafés.
For these two categories, “a reason must be the practical application of the hygiene rules” imposed because of the outbreak of coronavirus, note the statistics Office in a press release.
The index of consumer prices (HICP), used as a reference by the ECB, shows a 0.5% year on year, and 0.0% on a month.
This figure is moving away still more the objective of the european central Bank of inflation “close to but below 2%” in the euro area.
The German economy is expected to contract by 6.3% in 2020, as estimated by the government.
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