The annual inflation rate of the 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries decreased to 0.8 percent in March this year, compared to 1.0 percent in the previous month, according to the latest figures. This slowdown was mainly driven by energy prices which declined by 9.5 percent, compared with a decline of 8.9 percent in the year to February.
The inflation in food prices decreased to 0.7 percent in March from 0.9 percent in the previous month, while, excluding food and energy, the OECD annual inflation rate remained stable at 1.9 percent in March for the fourth consecutive month.
Compared with the same month of 2015, annual inflation decreased 0.1 percent in March in Japan, following the year-on-year rate of 0.3 percent recorded in February. In March, in Canada annual inflation fell to 1.3 percent from 1.4 percent in February. In Germany annual inflation increased to 0.3 percent compared to 0.0 percent recorded in February, while the UK annual inflation rose to 0.5 percent compared to 0.3 percent in the previous month. Meanwhile, in March in France annual inflation was up to -0.1 percent from -0.2 percent in February, while in Italy annual inflation increased to -0.2 percent compared to -0.3 percent recorded in the previous month.