german inflation unexpectedly eased in april after the economy struggled at the start of 2023 adding to a mixed bag of data for the european central bank to ponder before next week’s interestrate decision consumer prices climbed 76 from a year ago down from march’s 78 pace which economists estimated would be maintained the statistics office attributed the slowdown in goods and services data earlier friday showed europe’s biggest economy just dodged a recession with flat firstquarter output a flurry of updates this week on the euro area’s health has revealed accelerating inflation for france and spain in april alongside modest expansion for the euro region’s 20nation economy in the first three months of the year read more gdp latest euro zone avoids recession but inflation picks up economists predict a slower hiking pace of a quarterpoint according to a bloomberg survey they see two more such steps in june and july taking the deposit rate to a peak of 375 much will hinge on inflation and credit dynamics in germany the bundesbank predicts price pressures will continue to slow reflecting a drop in energy costs from last year extraordinarily high increases for food and other goods as well as services should ease too it said in its latest monthly report though a trend reversal has yet to start in april food prices fell sharply from march across german federal states which unlike the national statistics office have already published a detailed breakdown of their monthly data from a year earlier however food remained one of the biggest inflation drivers hurting lowincome households in particular private consumption along with public spending declined in the first quarter when growth in investment and exports staved off a downturn the government this week predicted 2023 expansion of 04 with assistance by joel rinneby and kristian siedenburg