German inflation eases to 2.8% in October as energy prices rise less steeply

Inflation in Germany eased in October. On first estimates, consumer prices were 2.8% higher than in the same month a year earlier, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on 30 October 2026. In September the inflation rate had still been 3.3%, the highest since December 2023. Compared with the previous month, prices fell by 0.2% in October.

Energy stays expensive, but the increase is flattening

Energy prices have driven inflation in recent months. Household energy and motor fuels cost an estimated 12.2% more in October than a year earlier. In September the figure had been 14.9%, the steepest rise since February 2023. In June the rate had still been 3.4%; it then rose for three months in a row, to 8.3% in July and 10.5% in August.

Destatis had attributed the September price surge to developments on the crude oil market since the start of the Iran war. Motor fuels were then 37.1% more expensive than a year earlier, and light heating oil 74.9%. Electricity (minus 5.5%) and natural gas excluding operating costs (minus 2.8%), by contrast, cost less than a year before. Destatis has not yet published such detailed figures for October.

Since 1 October the energy tax on petrol and diesel has also been cut again, until 31 December 2026. According to an overview by Destatis, the charge falls by about 17 cents per litre: 14.04 cents of energy tax plus the corresponding share of VAT. This feeds directly into pump prices if the oil companies pass the cut on in full. The same cut had applied from 1 May to 30 June and lapsed from July to September. The flash estimate does not show how much it contributed to the slower rise in energy prices in October.

Core inflation falls to 2.1%

Price growth also slowed when energy and food are left out. So-called core inflation fell to 2.1%, from 2.4% in July, August and September. Services became 2.5% more expensive, after 2.7% in September, and goods 3.0%, after 3.8%. Food cost 0.4% more than a year earlier, the same rate as the month before.

The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which Destatis calculates for comparisons within the euro area, was also 2.8% higher than a year earlier in October and 0.1% lower than in September. It is the key measure by which European monetary policy gauges price stability.

What comes next

The October figures are based on the results available so far and are provisional. Destatis plans to publish final results on 11 November 2026. Households can estimate how hard inflation hits them with the office's personal inflation calculator, where they enter their own monthly spending on different kinds of goods and services.