By Maria Martinez
BERLIN (Reuters) -German inflation rose in December due to base effects, putting a temporary halt on the downward trend seen in the last months.
Inflation, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, rose in December to 3.8%, the federal statistics office said on Thursday, in line with the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters.
German consumer prices had risen by 2.3% year-on-year in November.
Economists pay close attention to German inflation data, as Germany usually publishes its figures one day before the euro zone inflation data release.
Euro zone inflation is expected to rise to 3.0% in December from 2.4% in November, according to economists polled by Reuters.
In December, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde flagged upside inflation risks to push back on imminent rate cuts.
The rise in German inflation is due to base effects stemming from last December’s energy relief measures for gas and district heating, the statistics office said.
While energy prices fell 4.5% year-on-year in November, they rose 4.1% in December, as a government-support package lowered prices in December 2022.
However, the rise in food prices weakened further in December, with prices rising 4.5% from a year earlier, compared with 5.5% in November.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, fell to 3.5% in December from 3.8% in November.
(Reporting by Maria Martinez, Editing by Rachel More and Tomasz Janowski)
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