Germany’s consumer price inflation remained unchanged at 8.7 percent year-on-year in February 2023, not far from a peak of 8.8 percent seen in October and November and above market expectations of 8.5 percent, a preliminary estimate showed. It was also well above the European Central Bank’s target of 2.0 percent, and came on the heels of robust labor market data released earlier, which could mean the European Central Bank might stick to its current policy tightening campaign. Services inflation accelerated to 4.7 percent in February from 4.5 percent in January, with rent prices advancing 2.0 percent, the same pace as the month before. Meanwhile, goods inflation eased slightly to 12.4 percent from 12.7 percent, as a slowdown in energy inflation (19.1 percent vs 23.1 percent) partially offset a sharper increase in the cost for food (21.8 percent vs 20.2 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices advanced 0.8 percent in February, also above consensus of a 0.6 percent rise