Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel believes that the end of the fuel discount and the nine-euro ticket could lead to an increase in the inflation rate to ten percent. “The tank discount and the nine-euro ticket are running out, which should increase the inflation rate by a good one percentage point,” Nagel told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” on Saturday. “The gas surcharge is coming, in return the VAT on gas is to be reduced, which in turn will dampen prices.”
Overall, an inflation rate of ten percent is possible in the autumn months, said Nagel. The President of the Deutsche Bundesbank made the historical dimension clear: “Double-digit inflation rates were last measured in Germany more than seventy years ago. In the fourth quarter of 1951, according to the calculations at the time, it was eleven percent.”
Inflation in Germany was 7.5 percent last July, after 7.6 percent in June and 7.9 percent in May. “For the whole of 2022, we see the inflation rate in the European harmonized calculation in Germany at over eight percent,” said Nagel.
Inflation could also be higher than previously expected in the coming year, said Nagel. “The inflation issue will not go away in 2023. Supply bottlenecks and geopolitical tensions are likely to continue.”
