"This [Russian gas imports] has given us a competitive advantage in the past, it has been very profitable. After there was no more gas, we lost our competitive advantage because, naturally, energy prices in Germany became higher," the minister told lawmakers.
Earlier, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said that The annual inflation rate in Germany accelerated to 3.7% in December 2023 from 3.2% in November.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Germany grew 0.1% in December, Destatis said.
The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, which is a standardized EU measurement of consumer price inflation, grew by 3.8% year-on-year, in line with the forecast.
In November 2023, the German economy had the lowest growth among all economies in the euro area since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the German Council of Economic Experts said. The council cited the 2022 sharp rise in energy prices and the high share of energy-intensive industries in Germany as the reasons. The council also forecast an average inflation rate of 6.1% for 2023 and 2.6 % for 2024.
Since the beginning of Russia's special operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union has introduced a series of measures aimed at decreasing gas consumption and limiting the bloc's use of Russian energy resources, including a gas price cap.
In October, Habeck acknowledged that Germany was recovering slower from the energy price backlash than expected.
"In a difficult geopolitical environment, we are getting out of the crisis slower than expected," he told a news conference.
The Greens' minister, who doubles as vice chancellor in the three-way coalition government, blamed the slump in industrial output on the continuing fallout from the energy crisis, which forced the European Central Bank to hike borrowing costs in a bid to rein in inflation.