In March, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices stood at 0.5 per cent. A year earlier the annual rate was 1.4 per cent, the National Statistics Office said today.

The largest upward impacts on annual inflation were brought about by the Food and Non- alcoholic Beverages Index (0.4 percentage points), the Restaurants and Hotels Index (0.3 percentage points) and the Clothing and Footwear Index (0.2 percentage points). This was mainly due to higher prices of vegetables, restaurant services and garments respectively.

The main downward impacts were recorded in the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index (0.7 percentage points) and the Transport Index (0.2 percentage points). This was mainly due to lower electricity rates and cheaper fuels respectively.

The twelve-month moving average rate was 0.6 per cent.

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