German consumer price inflation for May registered a rate of 0.2 per cent month-on-month and 1.9 per cent year-on-year, the Federal Statistics Office said today, confirming preliminary estimates.
The headline figures mark a slowdown from April, when consumer prices rose 0.4 per cent month-on-month and 2.0 per cent year-on-year.
"Energy prices again had a price-driving effect in May - as they have for more than two years - on the annual inflation rate," the office said in a statement.
"Without energy (heating oil and fuels), it (the annual inflation rate) amounted to just 0.7 per cent. Energy prices in May were 13.7 per cent above the same month a year ago and explain over half the overall rise in prices from May 2005."
Consumer prices harmonised to compare with other European Union data increased 0.2 per cent month-on-month and 2.1 per cent year-on-year.
The European Central Bank last Thursday signalled a gradual path of further interest rate hikes lies ahead to curb inflation in the euro zone after raising rates by a quarter point to a three-year high of 2.75 per cent
