THE rising prices due to the energy and food crisis affects even the strongest economies in Europe such as Germany, according to a new poll by ARD Public Broadcasting. According to her almost half of Germans have been forced to cut spending due to high inflationary pressures on their purchasing power.
More specifically, 47% have sharply or very sharply reduced their expenses. The problem is more widespread in the former East Germany, where almost six in ten (59%) said they had cut spending. For the lower income households, the percentage that has reduced its spending budget is 77%.
Consumer prices in Germany rose 8.7% in May compared to the corresponding month of 2021, according to the statistical service Destatis. This is the highest level of inflation recorded in the “locomotive” of the European Union since reunification in 1990, and one of the highest in the wider post-war period.
Inflation has been one of the biggest sources of popular concern in Germany for decades, due to the hyperinflationary crisis that struck the short-lived Weimar Republic in the 1920s.
In an indication of the importance that Germans attach to price increases, almost one in four (23%) said that inflation is the most important problem the government has to solve today. Only the war in Ukraine worries more citizens (37%).
Real per capita annual income in Germany stood at 35,290 euros in 2021, well above the EU average of 27,810, according to Eurostat.
