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German inflation eases
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May 11, 2000: 5:19 a.m. ET
April CPI growth slows to 1.5% as oil price pressures relent
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Germany's annual rate of consumer price inflation slowed to 1.5 percent in April, official data showed Thursday, as oil prices dropped from their peaks earlier in the year to ease inflation pressures.
Reporting the first drop in the annual inflation rate since May 1999, the Federal Statistics Office said the rise in consumer prices eased from 1.9 percent in March. Prices were unchanged in April from the previous month, the report said, confirming preliminary numbers released late last month on the basis of reports from six German states. Both annual and monthly inflation was in line with economists' forecasts.
The headline inflation index in March had increased at its fastest rate since December 1997.
The Federal Statistics Office said motor fuel prices in April were 15 percent higher than in the same month a year ago, whereas in March fuel prices had been 30.7 above year-earlier levels.
Stripping out volatile oil and fuel prices, however, April consumer prices were up 0.9 percent from a year earlier, quickening from an annual 0.7 percent rise in March.
The decline in the headline annual rate was also facilitated by the fact that new environmental taxes, introduced in April 1999, no longer distorted year-over-year comparisons.
Germany's harmonized index of consumer prices, compiled to conform to European Union-wide standards, rose 1.6 percent in the year to April and was down 0.1 percent on the month. In March, the harmonized index was up 2.1 percent from a year earlier and rose 0.2 percent month-over-month. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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