Euro inflation up in March
Euro‑area annual inflation rose to 2.6% in March 2026, up from 1.9% in February, while EU‑wide annual inflation moved to 2.8% for the same month. ( ) Separately, the Los Angeles Times reports Coachella has grown more expensive for tickets, gas and lodging but still lists five meal options on site priced at $20 or less. (latimes.com)
Inflation in the euro area accelerated in March, moving back above the European Central Bank’s 2% target after a February slowdown. (ec.europa.eu, ecb.europa.eu) Eurostat said annual inflation in the 20-country euro area rose to 2.6% in March 2026 from 1.9% in February, while the European Union-wide rate climbed to 2.8% from 2.1%. A year earlier, those rates were 2.2% and 2.5%. (ec.europa.eu) The biggest shift came from energy. Eurostat said euro-area energy prices rose 5.1% from a year earlier in March after falling 3.1% in February, while services inflation eased to 3.2% from 3.4%. (ec.europa.eu) That mix matters for the European Central Bank because it judges price stability against a 2% medium-term inflation target for the euro area as a whole. In its December 18, 2025 policy decision, the bank said it expected headline inflation to average 1.9% in 2026. (ecb.europa.eu, ecb.europa.eu) March’s report also showed how uneven price growth remains across the bloc. Denmark posted the lowest annual rate at 1.0%, while Romania recorded the highest at 9.0%; inflation rose in 23 member states from February, fell in three and was unchanged in one. (ec.europa.eu) In the euro area, services still carried the biggest weight in household spending at about 46.7% of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices basket, compared with 25.3% for non-energy industrial goods, 18.9% for food, alcohol and tobacco, and 9.0% for energy. (ec.europa.eu) Eurostat noted that the euro-area data now reflect 21 countries from January 2026 onward, after covering 20 countries through December 2025. The next Eurostat inflation release is scheduled for May 20, 2026. (ec.europa.eu, ec.europa.eu)
