Eurozone Inflation Surges in March on Energy Shock

2026-03-31 09:12 By Joana Ferreira 1 min. read

Euro area annual inflation climbed to 2.5% in March 2026, up from 1.9% in February and slightly below market expectations of 2.6%, according to a preliminary estimate.

This marked the highest rate since January 2025, pushing inflation above the ECB’s 2% target as energy costs soared 4.9%, the first annual increase in nearly a year and the sharpest since February 2023, driven by the Middle East conflict.

Meanwhile, price pressures eased in other sectors: services inflation slowed to 3.2% (from 3.4%), non-energy industrial goods fell to 0.5% (from 0.7%), and food, alcohol, and tobacco dipped to 2.4% (from 2.5%).

The core rate, excluding volatile energy, also cooled to 2.3% from 2.4%.

Among the Eurozone’s largest economies, inflation accelerated sharply in Germany (2.8% vs. 2.0%), France (1.9% vs. 1.1%), Spain (3.3% vs. 2.5%), and the Netherlands (2.6% vs. 2.3%), while Italy's rate remained stable at 1.5%.



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