German price pressure eases further in March

The German inflation rate continued to grow in March after returning to a positive zone in the previous month, official data showed on Monday, suggesting that pressure on Europe's biggest economy from downward prices development eased further.

Consumer prices in Germany increased by 0.3 percent in March compared with the same month of the previous year, German federal statistical office Destatis said, citing preliminary calculations.

In February, the German annual inflation rate measured by consumer price index (CPI) stood at 0.1 percent, bouncing back from a negative reading of minus 0.4 percent in January.

Energy prices were the main source of downward pressure again in March, data from Destatis showed. Compared with March 2014, energy prices declined by 5.7 percent this month.

When measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), the European Central Bank's (ECB) yardstick, German inflation finally returned to above zero levels for the first time in three months.

The index was up by 0.1 percent in March, following an annual decrease of 0.1 percent in February and a drop of 0.5 percent in January.

Germany's data could ease some pressure for the whole euro zone, which is struggling to avoid a dangerous deflation spiral.

Despite ECB's maintenance target of "below, but close to" 2 percent, the inflation rate in the 19-nation common currency area was teetering at a low level.

In February, annual inflation in the euro zone increased slightly to minus 0.3 percent, remaining in negative territory.

As a response to the prolonged low inflation, the ECB started its fresh monetary stimulus earlier this month. It planned to inject 60 billion euros (about 65 billion U.S. dollars) into the market via purchasing government bonds and securities every month, and to keep the stimulus program in place until September 2016. Endit