The eurozone inflation rate fell to 6.9% in March. It is the fifth consecutive month of slowdown, after having been 8.6% in January and 8.5% in February, according to Eurostat data.
The lowest inflation rates were registered in Luxembourg (3%), Spain (3.1%) and the Netherlands (4.5%), while the highest were registered in Latvia (17.3%), Estonia (15.6%) and Lithuania (15.2%). In Portugal, the inflation rate, measured by the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, stood at 8.6% in March, a decrease of 0.6% compared to February.
Despite the constant increase in food and drink costs, the inflation rate in the Member States has been declining in the vast majority of countries since the beginning of the year, exceeding the expectations of market analysts.
According to Eurostat’s analysis of the main components of inflation in the euro zone, food, alcohol and tobacco are the goods that show the greatest variation in March, 15.4% compared to 15% in February. Non-energy industrial goods (6.6% vs. 6.8% in February), services (5% vs. 4.8% in February) and energy, which registered -0.9% vs. 13.7% in February.
Although the eurozone inflation rate has been easing since October, this rate still remains well above the European Central Bank’s 2% target.
Source: TSF
