Annual March inflation drops to 6.1%

The annual inflation rate in Cyprus was 6.1% in March, down from 6.7% in February, according to data published by Eurostat.

The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose by 6.1% since March 2022 and by 6.5% for the three months of January to March compared to the same period last year.

Compared to March 2022, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (15.5%) and Restaurants and Hotels (9.1%) were the largest changes.

Compared to February 2023, the largest change was recorded in Clothing and Footwear (9.7%).

For January – March, the largest annual changes were in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (17,4%) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (9%).

Regarding the economic origin, the largest change compared to the index of March 2022 was recorded in energy (10.3%).

Compared to the previous month’s index, the largest change was monitored in non-energy industrial goods (3.2%).

Meanwhile, the euro area’s annual inflation rate dropped from 8.5% to 6.9%, while the European Union’s annual inflation fell from 9.9% to 8.3%.

A year earlier, in March 2022, the annual inflation rate was 6.2% in Cyprus, 7.4% in the eurozone and 7.8% in the EU.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Luxembourg (2.9%), Spain (3.1%) and the Netherlands (4.5%).

The highest annual rates were recorded in Hungary (25.6%), Latvia (17.2%) and Czechia (16.5%).

Compared with February, annual inflation fell in 25 Member States and rose in two.

In March, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from food, alcohol & tobacco (+3.12 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+2.10 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+1.71 pp) and energy (-0.05 pp).