Press release No. 387 of 28 September 2023
Consumer price index, September 2023:
+4.5% on the same month a year earlier (provisional)
+0.3% on the previous month (provisional)
Harmonised index of consumer prices, September 2023:
+4.3% on the same month a year earlier (provisional)
+0.2% on the previous month (provisional)
WIESBADEN – The inflation rate in Germany is expected to be +4.5% in September 2023. This is the lowest level since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The last time a lower inflation rate was registered was in February 2022, when it stood at +4.3%. The inflation rate is measured as the change in the consumer price index (CPI) compared with the same month a year earlier. In August 2023, the inflation rate was +6.1%. Based on the results available so far, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that consumer prices are expected to increase by 0.3% on August 2023. The inflation rate excluding food and energy, often referred to as core inflation, is expected to be +4.6% (August 2023: +5.5%).
| Overall index / subindex | Weight | June 2023 | July 2023 | August 2023 | September 20231 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| per thousand | percent | ||||
| 1: Provisional figures. 2: Core inflation. 3: Household energy and motor fuels. | |||||
| Overall index | 1,000 | 6.4 | 6.2 | 6.1 | 4.5 |
| Overall index excluding food and energy2 | 821.41 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 4.6 |
| Services | 503.36 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| Goods | 496.64 | 7.3 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 5.0 |
| including: | |||||
| Energy3 | 73.90 | 3.0 | 5.7 | 8.3 | 1.0 |
| Food | 104.69 | 13.7 | 11.0 | 9.0 | 7.5 |
In September 2023, food prices continued to show above-average growth (+7.5%) compared with the same month of the previous year. At +1.0%, the increase in energy prices was, however, much lower than the year-on-year change rate of the overall index. One of the causes is a base effect compared with September 2022, which was influenced by the measures of the Federal Government’s relief packages (end of the fuel discount). The discontinuation of the 9-euro ticket in September 2022, which was available from June through August 2022, has a base effect on the development of prices in the services sector, which rose +4.0% on the same month of the preceding year. .
Inflation Calculator for personal rate of inflation:
Consumers can use the Personal Inflation Calculator (only in German) of the Federal Statistical Office to adapt their monthly consumption expenditure on individual product groups according to their own consumption patterns and to calculate their personal inflation rate.
Methodological notes:
The consumer price index (CPI) and the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) differ in coverage and methodology. In contrast to the HICP, the CPI includes also household expenditure on owner-occupied housing, games of chance and broadcasting fees. In addition, the HICP product weights are updated annually. As the weight of housing is much smaller in the HICP basket, price increases in other product groups have a larger impact on the HICP than on the CPI.
More information:
The final results for September 2023 will be released on 11 October 2023.
