BERLIN: Germany has recorded its highest annual inflation rate for the first time in more than 70 years, while consumer spending power has waned alarmingly.
According to Germany’s Federal Bureau of Statistics, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has boosted energy and food prices, pushing inflation to 7.9 percent for the full year of 2022.
The last annual inflation close to that level was recorded at 7.6 percent in 1951, when the economic boom began after World War II. In 2021, the annual inflation rate was 3.1 percent.
According to news reports, preliminary data showed that inflation eased slightly in December, to 8.6 percent compared to the same month last year, as consumers paid their energy and gas bills. Once government funding is in effect for assistance.
In October, the monthly inflation rate reached a record 10.4 percent, while in November, this rate fell to 10 percent.
Rising prices in Germany are hurting consumer purchasing power. Many German unions have called for above-average wage increases in recent months to cushion the effects of inflation. Campaigned with
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Europe’s largest economy has also increased, according to the data, the number of unemployed rose to 2.5 million or 5.4 percent in December.
That’s about 0.1 percentage point higher than in November, although such increases are not unusual at the end of the year as temporary contracts expire.
The average number of unemployed for the entire period of 2022 was 24 lakh 20 thousand and it is almost two lakh less than in 2021.
(Written by News Desk using information available from different news sources available on internet.)
