According to preliminary data that were made available on Tuesday by the Federal Statistical Office of the nation, Germany has experienced the highest level of annual inflation in more than 70 years.
In 2022, full-year inflation reached 7.9% due to rising costs for energy and food as a result of Russia's attack on Ukraine. The last time annual inflation was close to that level was in 1951, when it was 7.6% as the economic boom that followed the war started. In 2021, annual inflation was 3.1%.
As one-time government payments to assist consumers in paying their heating and gas bills took effect, the preliminary data indicated that inflation slowed somewhat in December, falling to 8.6% in comparison to the same month in the previous year. In October month to month expansion had arrived at a record 10.4% prior to dunking to 10% in November.
Rising costs lessen purchasers' spending power. In recent months, numerous German unions have successfully lobbied for pay raises that are higher than average to offset inflation.
In the mean time, joblessness figures in Europe's greatest economy rose somewhat in December to 2.45 million, or 5.4%. This was around 0.1 rate point higher than in November, however such an increment is to be expected toward the year's end as impermanent agreements terminate.
The average number of unemployed people for a full year in 2022 was 2.42 million, almost 200,000 fewer than in 2021.