In March , the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices stood at 1.0 per cent, unchanged from February 2016, the National Statistics Office said today.

On a monthly basis, the same rate of 1.0 per cent was registered in March 2016, up from 0.6 per cent registered in February 2016.

The largest upward impacts on annual inflation were registered in the Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House Index (0.27 percentage points), the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index (0.20 percentage points) and the Restaurants and Hotels Index (0.20 percentage points). These were mainly due to higher prices of household appliances, cigarettes and restaurant services (including cafeterias and the like) respectively

The Transport Index (0.15 percentage points) and the Communication Index (0.05 percentage points) registered the largest downward impacts, mainly reflecting lower fuel prices and cheaper mobile phones respectively.

The twelve-month moving average rate was 1.3 per cent.

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