Consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries, fell 0.7% year-on-year after shrinking by the same amount in the previous month, the Federal Statistics Office said.

December's preliminary data compared with a Reuters forecast for a 0.6% decline.

"The coronavirus crisis has again resulted in difficulties in conducting the consumer price survey because some goods were not available on the market," the office said in a statement.

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; editing by Thomas Seythal)