According to a flash estimate from Eurostat, euro area annual inflation is expected to be 0.7% in March 2020, down from 1.2% in February. Economists had expected a 0.8% increase. The core figures arrived at +1.0% in the reported month when compared to 1.1% expectations and +1.2% previous.

Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in March (2.4%, compared with 2.1% in February), followed by services (1.3%, compared with 1.6% in February), non-energy industrial goods (0.5%, stable compared with February) and energy (-4.3%, compared with -0.3% in February).