German inflation persists at low level
Xinhua, September 13, 2016 Adjust font size:
Germany's annual inflation stood at 0.4 percent in August, unchanged from the previous month, official data showed on Tuesday, confirming its preliminary calculations.
"The inflation rate as measured by the consumer price index persists at a low level," said German federal statistics office Destatis, attributing the low inflation mainly to decrease in energy prices which dropped by 5.9 percent.
Excluding energy prices, the annual inflation rate would have been 1.1 percent.
Measured with the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), the European Central Bank's yardstick, German annual inflation in August declined to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent in July.
Weak inflation in Europe's biggest economy added pressure on the ECB which has cut interest rates to historically-low levels and kept injecting fresh money into the market in a bid to lift prices in the euro zone.
In August, annual inflation in the common currency area stood at 0.2 percent, far below the ECB's target of "below, but close to 2 percent." Endit