Eurozone inflation rate revised up to zero in March

London / AP

The latest bout of falling prices across the 19-country eurozone has ended — after just a single month.
Revised figures on Thursday from the European Union’s statistics agency showed that inflation was flat in the year to March. That’s up from the initial estimate of a 0.1 percent fall and February’s 0.2 percent annual drop.
The biggest prices increases came from restaurants and cafes while cheaper fuel was the biggest drag on inflation.
The earlier Easter in much of the eurozone may have helped the uptick, particularly in Germany, which saw inflation in March rise to 0.1 percent from minus 0.2 percent in February.
The upward revision is likely to provide some modest cheer to policymakers at the European Central Bank, who have backed a series of stimulus measures, such as cutting interest rates and expanding a government bond-buying plan, primarily to get inflation back to the target of just below 2 percent.
But Alasdair Cavalla, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, cautioned against too much
optimism.
“It is important to remember the level of inflation,” said Cavalla. “Zero is not indicative of a healthy economy.”
The ECB has been worried that too-low or negative inflation could turn into deflation, a long-term drop in prices that would weigh on the already-fragile eurozone economy. Despite the flat rate for the eurozone as a whole, ten of the bloc’s countries are reporting falling prices.
A consistent drop in prices can choke the life out of an economy by enticing consumers to delay big purchases beyond everyday needs such as food and energy in the knowledge that they will cost less down the line.
And faced with lower prices, businesses also make less profit and start looking to reduce costs. That means job losses, wage cuts and a growing reluctance to invest and innovate. That hurts the economy further, potentially creating a downward spiral in which businesses have to cut costs further.