What's going on?

Data out on Wednesday showed that German consumer prices jumped more than expected in March, even as the country�s government is forced to resort to desperate measures.

What does this mean?

Germany�s been struggling with supply issues for a while now, but these sanctions on Russia have made a bad situation even worse. Case in point: Germans had to fork out a massive 40% more on energy this month than the same time last year. And since that encouraged businesses to pass some of those costs onto customers, consumer prices came in 7.3% higher this month than at the same time last year � way above the 6.3% economists expected, and the biggest rise in prices for over 40 years.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Germany�s standing its ground.
Meanwhile, the German government is playing a dangerous game: it�s refusing to pay for Russia�s natural gas in rubles as requested, which risks incentivizing the country � which supplies more than half of all its natural gas � to turn the taps off altogether. And that, the government has warned, would send prices even higher, possibly even triggering a recession. So in an effort to keep that from happening, Germany initiated the first step of a series of emergency measures on Wednesday: it�s going to start monitoring the country�s energy consumption daily, and called on it to reduce usage where it could.

The bigger picture: Germany and the US team up.
It makes sense, then, that Germany would be trying to wean itself off Russian gas completely. And it�s just taken a big step toward doing just that: the country just announced a deal with the US that will see the country ramp up exports of natural gas to the European Union. And their plans don�t stop at gas, with the two countries saying they�ll work together on a renewable energy plan that could reduce the need for fossil fuels altogether.