Annual inflation rate down 0.1%
Consumer prices in March, as measured by the CPI, increased by 0.3% in the month.
This compares to an increase of 0.4% in March of last year and as a result, the annual rate of inflation fell slightly to 2.1%, down from 2.2% in February.
The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased by 0.2% in the month, compared to an increase of 0.4% in March 2004. The annual rate of inflation as measured by the HICP fell from 2.0% in February to 1.9% in March.
The most notable changes in the year were increases in housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (+9.3%), education (+6.3%), health (+6.0%), restaurants & hotels (+3.4%) and transport (+2.4%).
There were decreases in clothing & footwear (-3.0%), furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (-1.8%) and food&non-alcoholic drinks (-0.7%).
The annual rate of inflation for goods was 0.2% in March while the corresponding rate for services was 3.8%.
The most significant monthly price changes were increases in clothing and footwear (+3.4%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+0.7%) and restaurants and hotels (+0.5%). There were decreases in food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.8%) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (-0.4%).
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