German consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries, rose by 1.2 percent year-on-year after an increase of 1.4 percent in the previous month, the Federal Statistics Office said.

The February reading came in weaker than the 1.3 percent forecast by analysts polled by Reuters. It was also the lowest since November 2016.

The preliminary numbers also showed that EU-harmonised prices rose by 0.5 percent compared to January. This undershot a 0.6 percent rise expected by analysts.

Inflation figures from Europe's largest economy are closely watched because of their influence on the European Central Bank's monetary policy.