Germany's annual inflation rate hit a 41-year high in March, according to provisional data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

In a statement, Destatis said the figure is expected to come in at 7.3% this month, mainly due to the surge in prices of natural gas and mineral oil products after Russia launched a war on Ukraine.

Delivery bottlenecks due to interruptions in supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the reading.

The statement underlined that Germany saw a similar high inflation rate in the autumn of 1981, again due to a boom in mineral oil prices as a result of the first Gulf war.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up by 2.5% in March, Destatis report showed./aa