According to a quick estimate by Statistics Austria, inflation fell well below ten percent in March. This is the lowest value in a long time, especially since June 2022.
Inflation this year was 10.9 percent in February and 11.2 percent in January.
Fuel and heating oil prices are falling again
“The main contributors came from fuel and heating oil, prices of which had soared at the start of the war in Ukraine, but have since fallen again and are now inflation-dampening in a year-over-year comparison. The upward trend in food prices is also weakening,” Tobias Thomas, Austria’s director general of statistics, said on Friday.
The European Central Bank (ECB) aims for an inflation rate of 2 percent as the optimum value for the economy in the euro area. At its last meeting in mid-March, the ECB again sharply raised interest rates. It was the sixth rate hike in a row since the interest rate swing in July 2022.
The deposit rate, which leads the financial markets and which financial institutions receive from the central bank for parking excess funds, rose to 3.00 percent. The policy rate rose to 3.50 percent.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
