Inflation in Germany has surged to its highest level since 1992, increasing the pressure on the European Central Bank to explain why it thinks it would be premature to tighten its ultra-loose monetary policy.
German inflation rose 6 per cent in November from a year earlier, as measured by the harmonised index of consumer prices. The increase exceeded the expectations of most economists. German inflation was last this high shortly after the country’s reunification three decades ago.
Spiralling prices are a sensitive subject in a country where people’s approach to money is still haunted by the hyperinflation of the 1920s and 1940s that wiped out most people’s savings.