German consumer prices were unchanged in October, and the annual inflation rate edged up to 1.2 per cent, its highest since March.
Inflation calculated according to European Union standards was revised down to an annual rate of 1.1 per cent, from the originally reported 1.2 per cent, with the monthly change revised to a drop of 0.1 per cent from unchanged, the Federal Statistics Office said.
Prices for oil products did not significantly influence the inflation rate in October, the office said. Excluding the cost of heating oil and fuel, inflation would anyway have advanced to per cent, it added.
Prices for light heating oil dropped 4 per cent compared with a year earlier, while fuel costs rose 0.2 per cent.
The opposite was the case in the monthly figures, with light heating oil prices surging 6.1 per cent from September and fuel costs falling 0.6 per cent, the statistics office said.
Excluding mineral oil products, the consumer prices index would have fallen by a tenth of one per cent, it added. Food prices advanced 1.5 per cent from October 2002, as the cost of vegetables, fruit and sweets surged. At the same time, prices for meat products fell.
The cost of electricity increased 5.1 per cent from a year earlier and gas prices jumped 7.2 per cent, the office said.