The eurozone annual inflation increased slightly to 1.9 percent in March from 1.8 percent in February, the first rise this year, the European Union's statistics bureau Eurostat said on Monday.

Though the figure for March, unchanged from a previous estimate by the Eurostat at the end of last month, was lower than the 2.2 percent registered during the same period of last year, it was slightly higher compared to the first two months of this year when inflation remained stable at 1.8 percent.

In March, alcohol and tobacco prices recorded the largest increase of 3.6 percent compared to a year ago, while education and hotels and restaurants rose by 3.2 percent and 3.1 percent respectively. Prices for household equipment increased by 1.4 percent, and for recreation and culture by 0.3 percent. The lowest annual rate was observed for communications, a decrease of 2.8 percent.

Among those member states whose data were available, annual inflation in France was the lowest at 1.2 percent, the same with the previous month. Inflation was the highest in Ireland, which was 2.9 percent. Inflation in Germany was 2.0 percent, slightly up from 1.9 percent in February.

In the 27-nation EU, the annual inflation also rose slightly in March, edging up to 2.2 percent. It was 2.1 percent in February and a year ago.

Till March, it was for the seventh consecutive month that the inflation in the 13-nation bloc sharing the same currency stayed below the two percent ceiling preferred by the European Central Bank, but the gap was narrowing.

Worried about inflation pressure, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by a quarter point to 3.75 percent last month, the seventh rise since December 2005. It was widely expected that the Bank will raise the rate further to 4 percent in June.

Source: Xinhua