Germany’s inflation rose to 2.1% in August, beating forecasts and putting pressure on households

Germany just blew another chance to pull itself out of the ￰0￱ Friday, new economic data from Destatis showed rising inflation, surging unemployment, and no sign of recovery in sight, as the country braces for the full blowback from Donald Trump’s latest trade ￰1￱ inflation rate climbed to 2.1% in August, beating forecasts that had it landing at 2%. That’s a sharp move up from July’s 1.8%, which had been cooler than ￰2￱ core inflation, the figure without energy and food, didn’t ￰3￱ stayed at 2.7%, the same as last ￰4￱ means pressure is building across every part of the economy, not just from groceries or gas ￰5￱ wasn’t the only red ￰6￱ numbers jumped hard. 3.025 million people were officially unemployed in Germany last ￰7￱ pushed the unemployment rate to 6.4%, a clear sign the labor market is getting softer by the ￰8￱ tighten the screws on exports Germany’s slowdown is also getting hammered by global politics.

A July trade deal between the EU and the ￰9￱ in a new 15% tariff on a wide set of European products shipped to the ￰10￱ caught businesses off guard was a fresh update earlier this month: those tariffs will now extend to key sectors like pharmaceuticals, which had been left out ￰11￱ sudden decision has rattled German exporters, many of whom already operate on thin ￰12￱ big question is who ￰13￱ the U. S., prices are expected to ￰14￱ in Germany and across the eurozone, it’s ￰15￱ companies may cut prices to unload extra goods that aren’t selling in ￰16￱ might raise prices in Europe to make up for what they’re losing in the ￰17￱ way, the hit lands hard at ￰18￱ timing couldn’t be worse.

Germany’s GDP grew 0.3% in the first ￰19￱ it shrank 0.3% in the second. That’s not growth, that’s ￰20￱ country’s been flirting with recession for months, and the latest numbers show it’s not getting any ￰21￱ Brzeski, ING’s global head of macro, said in a note that “it remains to be seen how European and US companies will react to US tariffs.” He warned that inflation in Germany might hold off the ECB from cutting rates next month. “A rather domestic theme will be the cooling of the German labour market, which should take away wage pressures and consequently inflationary pressures,” Carsten ￰22￱ holds fire while consumer forecasts stay above target The European Central Bank is caught in the ￰23￱ held rates steady at 2% in July and isn’t expected to move when it meets again on September 11.

That’s despite rising signs that Germany and other eurozone economies are getting slammed by trade fallout and weak ￰24￱ in the eurozone aren’t expecting relief anytime soon ￰25￱ ECB’s latest Consumer Expectations Survey, also released Friday, showed people still think inflation will stay above the ECB’s ￰26￱ the next 12 months, the median forecast stayed at 2.6%, the same as ￰27￱ three years out, expectations rose to 2.5% from 2.4%. And five years from now? Still stuck at 2.1%, unchanged for eight straight ￰28￱ leaves the ECB with no clear ￰29￱ wants to bring inflation back to 2%, which it officially targets “over an undefined medium term,” believed to be around three ￰30￱ right now, with inflation stuck and trade tensions growing, that target looks more like wishful thinking than a real ￰31￱ now, the Sick Man of Europe isn’t limping toward recovery, he’s face down on the pavement, and no one’s stopping to ￰32￱ you're reading this, you’re already ￰33￱ there with our newsletter .