Brussels, 14/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The annual inflation rate of the eurozone and the European Union was zero in March 2016, up from February (-0.2% in the eurozone and -0.1% in the EU), according to the definitive figures published by the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) on Thursday 14 April.
In March, negative annual rates were observed in 15 member states: Romania (-2.4%), Cyprus (-2.2%), Bulgaria (-1.9%), Spain (-1.0%), Croatia and Slovenia (-0.9% each), Greece (-0.7%), Ireland, Latvia and Luxembourg (-0.6% each), Slovakia (-0.5%), Poland (-0.4%), Italy and Hungary (-0.2%) and France (-0.1%. The highest rates were observed in Belgium (1.6%), Sweden (1.2%) and Malta (1.0%).
The largest upwards impacts on the eurozone inflation rate came from restaurants and cafes (+0.12%), package travel (+0.09%) and rents (+0.07%). Fuels for transport (-0.60%), heating oils (-0.23%) and gas (-0.10%) had the largest downwards impacts. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)