German inflation slowed to 2.8% in October, the federal statistics office Destatis confirmed on Wednesday, as price rises eased from 3.3% in September. Consumer prices fell by 0.2% compared with September, and the harmonised measure used for comparisons across the European Union also stood at 2.8% year on year.

Core inflation eases too

Inflation excluding food and energy, the core measure watched by the European Central Bank, fell to 2.1%, while inflation excluding energy stood at 2.0%. Destatis president Ruth Brand said the rate was “just under three percent again” in October. The figures confirm the provisional reading published at the end of last month.

Germany bucks the eurozone trend

Germany's slowdown contrasts with the wider eurozone, where inflation accelerated to 4% in October, its highest in more than three years, with France at 3.8% and Italy at 5.6%. Germany has been helped by a cut in fuel taxes that took effect on 1 October and runs until the end of the year. Energy prices were still rising sharply, up 12.2% on the year, but more slowly than the 14.9% recorded in September. The final figure matched economists' forecasts. The confirmation gives the European Central Bank some relief, although price pressures elsewhere in the bloc remain strong.