Inflation edges down in March
Complete data confirmed harmonized inflation came in at 1.4% in March, slightly below February’s 1.5%. Inflation sits below the European Central Bank’s target rate of near, but under, 2.0%. Lower price pressures for food, alcohol & tobacco drove March’s fall.
Annual average harmonized inflation was unchanged at February’s 1.8% in March. Core inflation, meanwhile, fell to 1.0% from February’s 1.2%. Despite the ECB’s ultra-accommodative monetary policy underlying price pressures in the Eurozone remain weak. On a monthly basis, harmonized consumer prices rose 1.0% in March, a stronger increase then February’s 0.3%.
Among the countries in the common-currency bloc, Greece (1.1%) and Portugal (0.8%) recorded the lowest inflation in March. On the flipside, the Netherlands (2.9%) and Slovakia (2.8%) experienced the highest price pressures. Regarding the largest economies in the Eurozone, inflation fell in France (1.3%) and Germany (1.4%) but rose in Spain (1.3%). Italy’s inflation was unchanged at February’s 1.1% in March.