Eurozone wholesale inflation is on a downward trajectory, with Greece posting the largest monthly decline and the second largest annual decline.
In particular, the producer price index (PPI) fell in March by 1.6% from February, slightly less than analysts’ average forecast for a monthly decline of 1.7%. It is noted that last month the index showed a decline of 0.4%.
Thus, the producer price index slowed in March to 5.9% year-on-year, as expected by the market, from 13.3% in February.
At the European Union level, producer prices fell by 1.5% monthly, slowing to an annual rate of 7%.
The reduction in energy prices
It is worth noting that the decrease in wholesale inflation led to the drop in energy prices, by -4.8%, while the prices of intermediate goods decreased by 0.4% and capital goods by 0.2%. Consumer durables saw a price decrease of 0.3% and non-durables by 0.9%.
However, excluding energy prices, producer prices showed a slight increase of 0.2%.
The largest monthly decline was seen in Greece which saw its producer price index fall by 7.3%, followed by Ireland with -4.6% and Lithuania with -4%.
In contrast, Cyprus saw a monthly acceleration of 2.4%, in France the index increased by 2% and in Croatia by 0.5%.
On an annual basis, the biggest decrease was in Ireland with -29.9%, while Greece followed with -10.8%, Portugal with -3.9% and Spain with -1%.
On the contrary, Hungary saw the index jump by 48.1% year on year, in Slovakia it increased to 32.9% and in Latvia to 27%.
