German consumer price inflation accelerated more-than-expected in December to its highest level since the middle of 2013, preliminary figures from Destatis showed Tuesday.
The consumer price index rose 1.7 percent year-on-year after increasing 0.8 percent in each of the previous two months. Economists had forecast 1.4 percent inflation.
The latest figure was the highest since July 2013, when inflation was 1.9 percent.
Energy prices rebounded with 2.5 percent gain in December after declining in previous months. Food price inflation more-than-doubled to 2.5 percent from 1.2 percent.
Compared to the previous month, the CPI rose 0.7 percent, which was slightly faster than the 0.6 percent economists had predicted. In November, the monthly inflation was 0.1 percent.
The harmonized index of consumer prices, or HICP, climbed 1.7 percent year-on-year, after rising 0.7 percent in the previous month. Economists had forecast 1.3 percent inflation. The EU inflation figure was also the fastest since July 2013, when it was 1.9 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, the HICP increased 1 percent in December, exceeding economists' expectations for a 0.6 percent gain. In November, the HICP was unchanged from the previous month.
The annual average CPI inflation was 0.5 percent in 2016 versus 0.3 percent in the previous year, Destatis data showed. The HICP inflation was 0.4 percent compared to a flat reading in 2015.
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