Inflation’s slowdown in the euro area continued in March

Consumer prices Inflation, or inflation, slowed down in March in the euro area. According to preliminary information released on Monday, prices rose by 2.2 percent from the year ago.

Economists predicted in the Reuters survey that the inflation rate would have remained unchanged at 2.3 %. From the previous month, February, prices increased by 0.6 per cent.

In March, energy fell 0.7 percent of the year ago. Unprocessed foods increased by 4.1 per cent, industrial products by 0.6 per cent and services by 3.4 per cent.

In March, the underlying inflation, followed by central banks and economists, was 2.4 per cent in March. In February it was 2.6 percent.

Bottom inflation is an important measure of the direct impact of sensitive energy and food prices on consumer prices.

From slowing down Despite the inflation rate, the rate of inflation is still a bit faster than the price stability target of the European Central Bank (ECB). According to the target, inflation should be two percent in the medium term.

In the financial markets, it is very likely that the Central Bank will cut 0.25 percentage points in its control interest after more than two weeks.

“It looks good. The slowdown in inflation is already clearly reflected in the bottom inflation. I find it very likely that the central bank will cut the rating interest at least once,” says the forecasting manager of the Business Research Institute Päivi Puonti.

Indeed Members of the Council of the European Central Bank of Monetary Policy have recently hinted that the interest rating interest does not necessarily cut in April due to financial uncertainty and increasing defense expenditure.

“More interest cuts are coming, but it is possible that in April the central bank will have an inch break. If this happens, it may not be that the interest rate will not be lowered to 1.50 % as we have predicted,” says Danske Bank’s main analyst. Minna Kuusisto.

Currently, the control interest rate is 2.50 %.

About the euro state The fastest inflation was in Estonia, Croatia and Slovak. In all these countries, consumer prices increased by 4.3 percent from a year ago.

The slowest inflation was in France, Luxembourg and Ireland. In France, consumer prices increased by 0.9 per cent from March last year, by 1.5 per cent in Luxembourg and 1.8 per cent in Ireland.

In Finland, inflation was 1.9 %.