Good news for consumers: Falling energy and food prices are leading to the lowest inflation rate in almost three years.
“Everything is getting more expensive!” How often has this sentence been heard in many areas of everyday life in recent years. The corona pandemic and the Ukraine war were just two aspects that caused inflation to continue to rise. That’s the end of it – at least for now. Because in March 2024 the inflation rate was only 2.2 percent. This is the lowest value since May 2021, the
Federal Statistical Office
announced .
The price situation for energy and food is dampening the inflation rate
What factors were decisive for the falling inflation rate? “The price situation for energy and food dampened the inflation rate for the second month in a row. In March 2024, food was cheaper for consumers for the first time since February 2015 than a year before,” explains Ruth Brand, President of the
Federal Statistical Office.
For comparison: If you ignore food and energy prices, the so-called core inflation was 3.3 percent in March 2024.
At the beginning of the year, the energy price brake was removed and the CO₂ price increase for fuels, heating oil and natural gas came. Nevertheless, from a consumer perspective, prices were moving in the right direction. In the first three months of 2024, energy prices always fell compared to the previous year - 2.8 percent in January, 2.4 percent in February and 2.7 percent in March. Prices for household energy also fell significantly in March 2024 compared to the same month last year - by 4.6 percent.
And there is now more encouraging news for consumers when it comes to food. In March 2024, groceries were 0.7 percent cheaper than in the same month last year. It doesn't sound special at first, but it is. This is the first year-on-year improvement since February 2015.
Of course, there are differences between the foods when it comes to price development. Fresh vegetables became significantly cheaper at 20.1 percent. Dairy products – 5.5 percent – are also cheaper to buy than last year. Customers also benefit from buying sunflower oil and rapeseed oil - minus 21.7 percent.
Olive oil with extreme price increase
However, there are also products that have become significantly more expensive compared to the previous year. The extreme example is olive oil, where a price increase of 54.1 percent can be observed. Fruit – 4.2 percent – and honey and confectionery – 8.4 percent – are also more expensive in March 2024 than in the same month last year.
In contrast to food and energy, prices for services rose by 3.7 percent. Insurance – 11 percent –, restaurant services – 6.9 percent – and social institution services – 7.8 percent – became significantly more expensive. The opposite pole to this are the costs for combined tickets for train or bus. Thanks to the Germany ticket, which has been valid since May 2023, these fell by 23.3 percent compared to the previous year.