German inflation soars close to ECB target, but domestic consumers may suffer

By Michael Nienaber and Joseph Nasr BERLIN (Reuters) - German inflation jumped to within a whisker of the European Central Bank target in December, hitting the highest level in more than three years and providing the euro zone bank with evidence its loose monetary policy is working. German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European countries (HICP), rose by 1.7 percent on the year after an increase of 0.7 percent in November, the Federal Statistics Office said on Tuesday. The rea