How will inflation develop in the coming months? A current survey by the IFO Institute sends a new signal of relaxation. According to this, the expectations of German companies regarding the development of the prices of their own offers have fallen.
The number of companies planning price increases in the next three months has fallen for the fifth straight month. Price expectations for the economy as a whole fell to 29.1 points in February, after 35.2 points in January, as the Munich-based IFO Institute reported on the basis of a recent survey.
The companies have already passed on a large part of their increased costs to their customers, and demand is currently declining "in almost all sectors of the economy," the research institute explained. "This should ease inflationary pressures in the coming months."
Even if the price expectations in retail are still "significantly higher" than in other sectors, fewer companies there now want to raise their prices, as the IFO Institute explained. This applies in particular to food retailers and stationery shops.
The service providers are also reducing the price plans. However, they remain high in tourism. The indicator for tour operators was still 63.2 points, the value for restaurateurs 52.7 points.
Manufacturing is less likely to plan to raise prices. In the construction industry, very few companies want to pass on increased purchase prices - price expectations fell to 18.7 points and thus to the lowest value since April 2021. The main reason for this is the falling demand for construction services.
