Fears of Price-Gouging During Euro Transition Cited Amid Big Falloff in Consumer
Frankfurt, 2002-05-14 (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, engl. Edition)
Evidence Mostly Anecdotal But Still Causing Germans to Cut Back, Economists Says
Economists indicated that the declining inflation rate reported by the Federal Statistics Office on Monday owes much to the wariness of consumers angered by what they see as price-gouging during the transition to the euro.
With people simply refusing to buy, major price reductions are inevitable in the coming months, they said.
"The retail sector is doing so poorly and consumers have become so price-conscious that discounts are inevitable," Gerd Hassel of BHF Bank said after the statistics office reported that retail sales in Germany were down 3.2 percent in real terms in March compared with the same month a year earlier.
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