Berlin, September 30 (QNA) - Germany's annual inflation rate rose to 3.3 percent in September, up from 2.9 percent in August, driven mainly by higher energy prices, while economic data showed that German companies are increasingly passing rising energy costs on to consumers.
Preliminary estimates showed that consumer prices increased by 0.6 percent in September compared with the previous month, while energy prices recorded a sharp annual increase of 14.9 percent, compared with rises of 10.5 percent in August and 8.3 percent in July.
Meanwhile, an economic survey published today showed that more German companies are planning to raise their product prices, with the price expectations index climbing to 22.7 points in September from 21.4 points in August, indicating that higher energy costs are increasingly being passed on to selling prices.
The largest increase was recorded among energy-intensive industrial companies, where the index rose from 19.5 points in August to 24.8 points in September. Among non-energy-intensive industrial companies, the index increased from 19.2 to 20.4 points. (QNA)