France's EU harmonized inflation weakened in March to the the lowest level in more than one-and-half years, but stayed slightly above economists' forecast, latest data showed Thursday.

Inflation as per the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), measured under the EU methodology, weakened to 1.1 percent in March from 1.2 percent in February, statistical office Insee said. The latest figure was the lowest since December 2009, when prices rose by 1 percent.

Sequentially, the HICP edged up 0.8 percent in March, slower than the 0.3 percent gain seen in February, data showed.

At the same time, the consumer price index increased 1 percent year-on-year during the month, as it did in the previous month. Economists had forecast the inflation to eased modestly to 0.9 percent.

Month-on-month, consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in March, slightly faster than the expected 0.7 percent gain. The rate of growth was unchanged from the previous month, data showed.