Annual inflation in the euro area is expected to be 6.9% in March, down from 8.5% in February, according to a flash estimate published by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Friday 31 March.
Price increases are expected to be highest in Latvia (17.3%), Estonia (15.6%) and Lithuania (15.2%) and lowest in Luxembourg (3.0%), Spain (3.1%), the Netherlands (4.5%) and Belgium (4.9%).
Among the main components of price inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco are expected to have the highest annual rate (15.4%, compared with 15.0% in February), followed by industrial goods excluding energy (6.6%, compared with 6.8% in February), services (5.0%, compared with 4.8% in February) and energy (-0.9%, compared with 13.7% in February).
Unemployment. According to Eurostat, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.6% in February in the euro area, stable compared to January. In the EU it was 6.0%, down from 6.1% in January.
The unemployment rate for under-25s was 14.5% in the EU and 14.4% in the euro area, up and stable respectively from 14.4% in both areas in the previous month. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)