--German provisional Jan CPI up 0.5% vs Dec; up 2.4% on yr
--German harmonized Jan CPI up 0.3% on month, up 2.2% on year
--German Stats: Ecotax results in 0.2 pct pt CPI increase
By BridgeNews
Frankfurt--Jan. 25--Germany's consumer price index rose 0.5% in January from December and was up 2.4% on the year, according to provisional figures released by the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden Thursday. Administered price increases were behind such a sharp rise in consumer prices, according to the statistics office.
* * * The statistics office said the increased tax on vehicles was responsible for pushing the CPI index up by 0.2 percentage points, with the same effect seen from the third stage of ecotax. Raised radio/TV license fees pushed index up 0.1 percentage points. The third stage of the ecotax, which came into effect on Jan. 1, meant that fuels became 0.06 Deutsche marks more expensive per liter and the price of electricity rose by 0.05 marks per Kwh. More