Year-on-year, inflation rate picked up for transport (1.9 percent vs 1.0 percent in February) and restaurants & hotels (2.5 percent vs 2.4 percent) while cost rebounded for recreation & culture (0.8 percent vs -0.1 percent). Additional upward pressure came from health (1.1 percent vs 1 percent) and alcoholic beverages & tobacco (1.2 percent vs 0.7 percent).
On the other hand, prices advanced at the same pace for miscellaneous goods & services (1 percent) while slowed for housing & utilities (1.4 percent vs 1.7 percent) and communication (0.5 percent vs 0.8 percent). Also, cost declined further for clothing and footwear (-4.4 percent vs -2.4 percent).
Annual core inflation rate, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products, increased to 0.8 percent in March from 0.6 percent in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up by 1.9 percent in March, recovering from a 0.7 percent fall in February. The increase was led by a sharp rise in prices of clothing and footwear (25.1 percent vs -4.5 percent), especially women clothes.
The harmonized consumer price index increased by 0.8 percent year-on-year (0.7 percent in February) and inched up by 2.2 percent from the previous month (-0.6 percent in February).