Energy remained the number one price driver in Germany: it rose by 20.5 percent following 18.3 percent in December. Consumers had to pay 24.8 percent more for fuel. Light heating oil cost 51.9 percent, natural gas 32.2 percent and electricity 11.1 percent more.
For Austrians, Wifo expert Josef Baumgartner is now expecting an annual average inflation rate of around 3.5 percent. So far, the economic research institute (Wifo) has officially predicted inflation of 3.3 percent for this year, most recently in December in the quarterly economic forecast.
According to preliminary information from Statistics Austria, inflation in Austria was 2.8 percent last year – in December it was once more provisionally 4.3 percent. On February 23, the January value will come and thus the final rates for December and 2021. In its flash estimate from the beginning of February, Statistics Austria assumed a 5.1 percent price increase for January within a year, which would be the highest value since 1984 .