Eurozone inflation eased to the lowest level in more than a year in March driven by the fall in energy prices but the core figure edged up to a new record to keep the pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to tighten its policy further.

Consumer prices advanced 6.9 percent on a yearly basis in March, slower than the 8.5 percent rise in February, flash estimate published by Eurostat showed Friday. Prices were expected to climb 7.1 percent.

This was the weakest inflation rate since February 2022 when prices rose 5.9 percent.

Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose slightly to 5.7 percent in March, as expected, from 5.6 percent in the previous month.

Economists said: the potential for core inflation to remain stickier than hoped will be the main reason for the ECB to continue to hike in the near term, Consumer prices data will do nothing to change ECB’s view that more rate hikes will be necessary to bring inflation down to the 2 percent target.

Source: Qatar News Agency