German consumer prices are holding steady - apart from oil

Soaring energy costs driven by high oil prices were the main factor for the rise, the Federal Statistics Office said in a statement.

The figure was the highest since May 2001, and substantially more than the 1.9% rate for the year to August.

Month-on-month inflation was 0.4% - but consumer prices excluding fuel and heating oil remained unchanged.

Interest rates

The German statistics office said the rate of inflation for the 12 months to September was "strongly influenced by the continuing increase in energy prices".

It added the cost of light heating oil had surged by 40% in the past year, while fuel prices had gone up by 17.4%.

Without the inflationary pressure of energy costs, the German consumer price index would have been unchanged from August to September, while the year-on-year figure would have risen by just1.6%, the statisticians said.

Germany is the eurozone's biggest economy, and its economic performance is particularly important to the European Central Bank (ECB) in deciding on its interest rates policy.

The ECB has kept its key rate on hold at 2% since June 2003, despite indications that inflation is currently above the bank's 2% target figure.

The EU's statistics office, Eurostat, is due to publish new figures for inflation in the eurozone as a whole next week.