Most Germans do not expect consumer prices to ease in the new year, according to a survey by opinion research institute YouGov.
Half of the 2,057 adults surveyed consider it likely that inflation will continue to rise in 2023. Just under a third (28%) expect inflation rates to remain at the high level of the past months.
In November, consumer prices in Germany were 10% above the level of the same month last year, according to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office.
For months, high energy and food prices - fuelled by the Russian war in Ukraine - have been driving up general inflation. This reduces the purchasing power of consumers and burdens businesses.
According to economists, inflation should gradually leave the record level in 2023 and fall again - also because government-mandated gas and electricity price brakes will then take effect.
The Bundesbank, for example, forecasts a decline in inflation from an average of 8.6% in 2022 to 7.2% in 2023 - measured by the harmonized consumer price index, which is decisive for monetary policy in the eurozone.
Only 13% of the respondents in the survey, conducted on behalf of the National Association of German Cooperative Banks, expect lower inflation in 2023.
Jürgen Wache, spokesperson of the Board of Directors of the Hannoversche Volksbank, said the survey results show "that the inflation rate is already threatening to become entrenched in people's minds - with a corresponding impact on their behaviour."
With a view to the next three years, the majority of respondents expect inflation to continue to rise (35%) or remain at the same high level (24%). In this medium-term scenario, only 28% assume that inflation rates will fall.
