Official data showed on Friday that inflation declined in France during March, while it accelerated but remained low in Italy, raising hopes for a cut in interest rates in the coming months.
The inflation rate in France fell to 2.3%, after reaching 3% in February, according to preliminary figures issued by the Institute of Statistics.
Food price inflation slowed sharply last month to 1.7% compared to 3.6% in February, while tobacco prices rose by 10.7% after rising by 18.7% in the previous month, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse. .
The rise in consumer prices also slowed on a monthly basis to 0.2% in March in the second largest economy in the euro zone, after an increase of 0.9% in the previous month.
“This slowdown is due to the slight decline in energy prices, especially gas and petroleum products,” the institute said in a statement.
In Italy, the third-largest economy in the euro zone, inflation reached 1.3% last month, compared to 0.8% in February, according to the national statistics agency.
The percentage was lower than expected, as a Bloomberg survey of analysts estimated it to be 1.5%, and remains far below the European Central Bank’s target of 2% in the euro zone.
Investors are closely monitoring inflation data in all euro zone countries, hoping that the European Central Bank will start cutting interest rates from June.
The inflation rate across the eurozone slowed to 2.6% in February.
But in Spain, data on Wednesday showed inflation in March rising to 3.2%, after reaching 2.8% the previous month.
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