Greece among EU states with lowest inflation rate in March

Annual inflation in the European Union stood at 1.7% in March, up from 1.3% in February, the bloc’s statistical office said on Friday. The figure for the same month last year was 1.2%, according to Eurostat.

The euro area annual inflation rate was 1.3% in March, up from 0.9% of the previous month and from 0.7% in March 2020. Services contributed the most to the annual euro area inflation rate in March, followed by energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, and non-energy industrial goods.

Compared with February, annual inflation fell in three EU member states, remained stable in three, and rose in 21 countries.

The countries with the lowest inflation rates were Greece (-2%), Portugal, Malta, Ireland and Slovenia, all at 0.1%. On the contrary, the highest annual rates were registered in Poland (4.4%), Hungary (3.9%), Romania and Luxembourg (2.5%), according to the data. [Xinhua]