Berlin - German inflation bounded ahead in November breaking
through the 3 per cent mark for the first time in 13 years, data
released Friday showed, as a result keeping up the pressure on the
European Central Bank over interest rates.
The German statistics office raised its annual inflation data for
November from 3 per cent to 3.1 per cent for Europe's biggest
economy against the backdrop of warnings from the ECB about the risks
posed to consumer prices of moves to higher wages.
Annual inflation stood at 2.4 per cent in October.
However, since then food, commodity and energy prices have
continued to exert an upward pressure on inflation. Together they
contributed to more than half the November rise in consumer prices.
The rise in German inflation is also likely to result in the
overall figure for consumer prices in the 13-member eurozone
accelerating, analysts said.
Moreover, signs of renewed inflationary pressures have come amid
evidence that global growth is slowing, helping to fuel concerns that
the world economy could be facing a period of stagflation.
Added to this has been the economic uncertainty unleashed by the
US mortgage market crisis.
While several of the world's leading central banks, including the
US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have cut rates, analysts
expect the ECB to hold fire and to maintain borrowing costs at their
current level of 4.0 per cent well in to the new year.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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