slowdown price growth rate V Hellasbut also entirely Eurozonehis preliminary data show Eurostat for March inflation, which were made public yesterday. In fact, this is an expected development, since now the year-on-year comparison is made with periods of large and sharp price increases, as happened since March 2022, which were the first months of the war in Ukraine. This, however, does not apply to the food group, whose prices continue to move up at a double-digit rate.

Thus, according to data published yesterday by Eurostat, Greece’s harmonized consumer price index is estimated to have reached 5.4% in March from 6.5% in February, which is the fifth lowest in the euro area. However, it is worth noting that on a monthly basis, Greece registered the second largest increase in the index (up 1.6%) after Portugal (2%), which means that a new round of revaluations has begun, mainly by companies that either did not carry out many revaluations in 2022 or were late with their holding. What’s more, most suppliers and retailers argue that despite lower energy costs, prices for other inputs such as virgin and recycled materials and transportation costs remain high. After all, just Thursday, a survey presented by NielsenIQ showed that seven out of ten suppliers and retailers are planning price increases in 2023.

In the Eurozone, inflation, according to preliminary data from Eurostat, is 6.9% in March from 8.5% in February 2023, and on a monthly basis, the growth is 0.9%. The countries with the highest inflation remain Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (17.3%, 15.6% and 15.2% respectively), while at the opposite end are Luxembourg, Spain and the Netherlands, where the estimated inflation in March is 3%, 3 ,1. % and 4.5%, respectively.

It is worth noting that the food group recorded even higher inflation in March 2023 compared to February 2023, 15.4% in the euro area against 15% in February. On the other hand, in the energy sector we no longer have a slowdown in growth, but a decrease in prices, the “energy deflation” is actually even small, about 0.9%. It is noted that in February 2023, energy products in the Eurozone showed an annual price increase of 13.7%. Non-energy industrial goods recorded a price increase of 6.6% from 6.8% in February, and services – by 5% from 4.8% in February.

The continuing rise in food prices continues to weigh on demand. According to ELSTAT, supermarket turnover increased by 8.5% in January 2023 compared to the corresponding month last year, but sales decreased by 5.3%.