MADRID, (EUROPA PRESS) – The inflation rate in the euro zone stood at 2.4% year-on-year in March, two tenths below the 2.6% rise in prices in February, as confirmed today by the community statistics office, Eurostat, which represents the smallest increase in the cost of living in the region since last November, when the reference set its lowest levels since the summer of 2021.
Likewise, in the European Union as a whole, the annual inflation rate moderated in March to 2.6% from 2.8% in February, the smallest increase in prices among the Twenty-seven since July 2021.
Among EU countries, the lowest year-on-year inflation readings in March were in Lithuania (0.4%), Finland (0.6%) and Denmark (0.8%), while the sharpest price increases were recorded in Romania (6.7%), Croatia (4.9%), Estonia and Austria (both 4.1%).
In the case of Spain, the harmonized inflation rate reached 3.3% in March from 2.9% in February, which widens the unfavorable differential with respect to the eurozone average to nine tenths.
In the euro zone, the year-on-year fall in energy prices moderated to 1.8% from a 3.7% drop in February, while fresh food fell 0.5% cheaper, after rising 2.0%. .1% in February.
For its part, the annual increase in the cost of services remained at 4%, while the increase in the price of non-energy industrial goods slowed to 1.1%, half a percentage point less than in February.
In this way, the euro zone inflation rate when discounting the impact of energy was 2.9%, compared to 3.3% in February 2024, while also excluding food, alcohol and tobacco , the underlying rate fell to 2.9% from 3.1%.
