2023.03.3112:07:00UTC+00Austria Inflation Slows To 9-month Low

Austria's consumer price inflation continued to slow in March to reach the lowest level since June 2022 on lower fuel and heating oil prices, preliminary estimates from Statistics Austria showed on Friday.

Consumer price inflation eased to 9.1 percent in March from 10.9 percent in February.

"The main contributors for the latest decline were fuel and heating oil, the prices of which had risen massively at the beginning of the Ukraine war but have since fallen again and are now having a dampening effect on inflation year-on-year," Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas said.

"The upward trend in food prices is also weakening."

The EU measure of the harmonized index of consumer prices, or HICP, rose 9.2 percent annually in March, after an 11 percent gain in the preceding month.

Compared to the previous month, consumer prices increased 0.4 percent in March, following a 0.9 percent rise in the prior month.

On a month-on-month basis, the HICP rose 0.5 percent in December, following a 0.8 percent gain in the previous month.