BERLIN, (Reuters) – German annual inflation rose slightly higher than anticipated in April because of rising energy prices. Also, delivery bottlenecks due to interruptions in supply chains and increased fuel costs accounted for some of the preliminary data on Thursday.

According to the Federal Statistics Office, consumer prices harmonised so that they are comparable with other inflation data of the European Union (HICP), increased 7.8% over the previous year, after 7.6% in March.

Following an increase of 7.3% during March’s inflation rate, the CPI rose 7.4% in 2017

Reuters polled analysts and found that they expected both the CPI to increase to 7.2%, as well as the HICP to grow to 7.6%.