People shop at a supermarket in the German capital Berlin on April 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)
Inflation rates vary across the euro zone's largest economies, with Germany reporting 2.3%, France 2.4% and Italy 1.3%.
BRUSSELS, April 3 (Xinhua) – The euro zone's annual inflation rate is expected to fall to 2.4 percent in March from 2.6 percent in February, according to preliminary figures released by the Eurostat on Wednesday.
Core inflation, which excludes variables such as energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, fell to 2.9% in March, the lowest level in two years, according to data from the European Union Statistics Office.
Despite the overall decline, the service sector inflation rate remained relatively high at 4% for the fifth consecutive month, highlighting the service sector's continued contribution to the inflationary backdrop. Ta.
Euro symbol seen in Frankfurt, Germany, January 18, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)
Meanwhile, food, alcohol and tobacco inflation slowed to 2.7% in March. The share of non-energy industrial products also declined, falling to 1.1% from 1.6% in the previous month.
Inflation rates, in particular, vary across the euro zone's largest economies, with Germany reporting 2.3%, France 2.4% and Italy 1.3%.
Eurostat also revealed on Wednesday that the euro zone unemployment rate was 6.5% in February, in line with January's figure and slightly improved from 6.6% in the same month a year ago. ■
