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News > Germany

German Chancellor Promises More Aid for Rising Energy Prices

  • A gas consumption meter in Germany, Aug. 11, 2022.

    A gas consumption meter in Germany, Aug. 11, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @WallStreetSilv

Published 12 August 2022
Opinion

In July, the annual inflation rate was 35.5 percent for energy products and 75.1 percent for natural gas.

During his summer press conference on Thursday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised German citizens a new state aid package to tackle high energy prices and inflation.

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The package is intended to "include all population groups," Scholz stressed. "So that no one is left alone, no one is faced with unsolvable problems, and no one has to shoulder the challenges associated with increased prices alone."

Inflation in Germany remained high at 7.5 percent in July, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In May, inflation in Europe's biggest economy peaked at 7.9 percent, the highest level since the first oil crisis in 1973.

Despite a "slight downward effect" from government measures such as a cheap nine-euro ticket for local public transport and a fuel discount, "the main reason for high inflation is still price rises for energy products," Destatis President Georg Thiel said, adding that prices for energy products in July were up 35.5 percent year-on-year, with heating oil prices more than doubling. Meanwhile, prices for natural gas rose 75.1 percent.

To prepare for the coming winter, the German government has taken measures to fill gas storage facilities. To reduce gas consumption, hard coal-fired power plants were given permission to operate again in order to replace natural gas consumption in power generation.

Germany is the only industrialized country to phase out coal and nuclear energy. All coal plants are to be taken off the grid by 2030, and the country's last nuclear plants are still scheduled to be shut down permanently by the end of 2022 at the latest.

Scholz said it is currently being discussed "whether it makes sense and is necessary to keep the three existing nuclear power plants running a little longer." Nevertheless, he added that saving energy will remain necessary.

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