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On austerity course: consumer in a supermarket
Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa
The German retail trade ran out of breath during the important Christmas business of all times.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, sales in December were 4.8 percent lower than in the previous month.
Price-adjusted (real) there was even a decline of 5.3 percent.
This crash comes as a surprise: economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency had expected slight growth of 0.2 percent.
"The desolate consumer mood had announced the consumption crash," said the chief economist at Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe Privatbank, Alexander Krüger.
"The decline is extremely severe, the high inflation has become a consumption killer."
At 7.9 percent, consumer prices rose more sharply than at any time since the Federal Republic came into existence.
This gnaws at the purchasing power of consumers.
"Because negative factors such as monetary policy will only have an even greater impact, there is no recovery in sight," said Krüger, referring to rising interest rates.
»The massive losses in real income will keep consumption on a leash for a long time.«
Weak consumption at the end of the year made a significant contribution to Europe's largest economy having one foot in the recession.
Surprisingly, gross domestic product shrank by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter.
The reason: Inflation-plagued consumers reduced their consumption.
In 2022 as a whole, retail sales increased by 7.8 percent.
Adjusted for inflation (real), however, it fell by 0.6 percent.
"The reason for the real drop in sales is likely to be primarily the significantly increased consumer prices for food and energy, among other things," said the statisticians.
In the food retail sector, sales in 2022 fell by 4.6 percent in real terms, more than at any time since these statistics began in 1994 gastronomy,” it said.
The mail-order and internet trade, which has been booming for a long time, also had to accept a serious setback: Its sales drop of 8.5 percent in real terms was above average.
kig/Reuters