Flash Apr HICP: +0.2% m/m, +2.2% y/y

MNI median forecast: +0.2% m/m, +2.2% y/y
MNI forecast range: -0.1% to +0.2% m/m

Final Mar HICP: +0.4% m/m, +2.3% y/y
————–
Flash Apr CPI: +0.1% m/m, +2.0% y/y

MNI median forecast: +0.1% m/m, +2.0% y/y
MNI forecast range: -0.1% to +0.2% m/m

Final Mar CPI: +0.3% m/m, +2.1% y/y
————–

BERLIN (MNI) – German consumer prices in April rose 0.1% in
national terms and 0.2% in EU-harmonized terms, which dampened annual
rates by 0.1 point to +2.0% for CPI and to +2.2% for HICP, the Federal
Statistical Office estimated Thursday.

April’s annual inflation rates are in line with the median
forecasts in an MNI survey of analysts.

As usual, the Statistics Office provided few details on price
developments with the flash release. It pointed to data from reporting
states which showed upward pressure stemming from energy, though to a
lesser extent than in previous months.

Due to sticky high oil prices, analysts expect annual inflation to
be above 2% over the next months.

Economics Minister Philipp Roesler on Wednesday said there is “no
acute inflation problem” but warned that inflation could become a risk
for the economic upswing. Wage deals this year will likely remain
reasonable, he reckoned.

“The ECB has our support so that it can return to its normal mode
of monetary policy and can concentrate on its clear mandate, assuring
price stability,” Roesler said.

Its updated economic outlook released Wednesday, the government
projected average inflation rates of 2.3% this year and 1.9% next year.

Germany’s leading economic research institutes said last week that
due to rising capacity utilisation rates and increasing tightness of
labor supply, wage and price pressures would increase markedly.

“We don’t see a wage-price spiral yet, but the risk absolutely
exists,” Joachim Scheide, the chief economist of the Kiel-based IfW
institute, said at a press conference on presenting the joint forecasts.
CPI is projected to rise by 2.3% this year and by 2.2% next year.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

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