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The change in the gastronomic preferences in Europe’s largest economy is affecting key economic indicators.
Figures for inflation in Germany now give more weight to spending on restaurants, among other categories, reflecting a change in the habits of consumers. The Bureau of statistics of the country published an up-to-date overview of your basket of inflation, which includes the goods and services of which price data are collected monthly.
While food products and beverages previously were 10.3 percent of a basket of average of consumer expenditures, that proportion has been reduced to 9.7 percent. There are several reasons, according to the Bureau of statistics: people in developed economies typically spend a smaller proportion of their income on food, and discount companies facilitate people with lower income to choose options cheaper. At the same time, a trend towards organic food may have given as a result that spend more money on some products.
In addition, the Germans are spending more in restaurants. That spending now has a weight of 3.6 percent in the basket of inflation, compared with 3.4 percent five years ago. This suggests that food expenditure is compensating with gastronomy, even if spending on restaurants in the country still goes very from behind against some of its euro-area neighbors.
Effect of inflation is yet to be seen if the largest share of spending in restaurants increases eventually general inflation in Germany or the eurozone. Areas of intensive use of services, such as restaurants and recreation, are quick to move higher wages from employees to customers through price increases, said the Chief Economist of the European Central Bank, Peter Praet, on Thursday.
“Is related to new technologies, is related to the competition, etc.?”, he said in Luxembourg. “We have to study it thoroughly.”
