Annual harmonised inflation continued to decline and reached the value 2.7%
The annual inflation measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices according to the European harmonized methodology reached the value 2.7% in March 2024, which was 1.1 percentage points lower than in February 2024. The month-on-month HICP inflation reached the value 0.1%.
The average annual rate of HICP inflation (comparing change in the average price level for the average of the harmonized consumer price indices for the last 12 months compared to the average of the previous 12 months) reached in March 2024 the value 8.1%, a year ago - in March 2023 its value was 13.8%. The average annual HICP inflation rate is an important indicator of a country’s price stability, its level is also considered as one of the four so-called Maastricht criteria that an EU Member State must meet before adopting the euro.
In March 2024, the harmonized indices of consumer prices increased by 0.1% month-on-month in total. The month-on-month increase in the price level was mostly affected by the increase in prices in the Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (a total positive contribution of +0.10 percentage point to month-on-month inflation was mainly caused by the increase in the prices of water supply and various services related to housing). The second most significant influence on the increase of prices in March compared to the price level in February had the divisions: Clothing and footwear (+0.05 p.p.). On the contrary, the decrease of prices and the highest negative contribution to the month-on-month inflation was reached in the divisions: Food and non-alcoholic beverages division (the negative contribution of the entire division amounted to -0.11 p.p.), Alcoholic beverages and tobacco (negative contribution of the division as a whole amounted to -0.04 p.p.) - the month-on-month decrease in the prices of spirits, wine and beer outweighed a gradual increase in the prices of tobacco products, mainly due to the impact of the increase in the excise duty.
The resulting summary of harmonized inflation within Europe for March 2024 can be found on April 17 2024 from 11 a.m. on the Eurostat website.