Euro Area Inflation at 2.7%; Trade Deficit Narrows

Arthi Gupta
15 Apr, 2011
New York City

Euro area inflation rose to 2.7% in March and trade deficit narrowed to

[R]1:00 PM Frankfurt – Euro area inflation rose to 2.7% in March and trade deficit narrowed to €1.5 billion in February. Czech producer price inflation surged in March. Norway trade surplus rose in March and Italy''s trade deficit widened in February. Germany lifted its current year economic outlook to 2.6%.[/R]

Euro Area Inflation Rises

Euro-zone inflation rose to 2.7% in March compared to 2.4% in February, a final release from Eurostat showed Friday. The figure is revised from 2.6% reported in the flash estimate.

The headline rate breached the European Central Bank''s target for the fourth consecutive month. The ECB has an inflation target of ''below but close to 2 percent''.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 1.4% in March.

In EU27, annual inflation was 3.1% in March, up from 2.9% in February. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.1% in March.

Euro-zone Trade Gap Narrows

Euro-zone''s trade deficit narrowed to €1.5 billion in February from €15.6 billion in January, preliminary results from the Eurostat showed today.

In February last year, the balance was in a surplus of €1.4 billion. On a monthly basis, euro area exports rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6%, while imports increased 1%.

Euro-zone''s trade with countries outside the European Union resulted in a trade deficit of €9.6 billion in February compared to €30.2 billion shortfall recorded in January. In February last year, the deficit amounted to €7.5 billion.

Norway Trade Surplus Rises

Norway''s March trade balance was a surplus of NOK 32.25 billion, 8.1% higher than the same month last year, Statistics Norway said.

Exports value of goods increased 12.8% over the year to NOK 80.3 billion, led by high oil prices and mainland exports.

Italy''s Trade Deficit Widens

Italy''s trade deficit widened to €3.6 billion in February from €2.8 billion during the same month last year, the country''s statistics office said today.

In February, exports rose 18.5% annually and imports rose 19.4%. During the first two months of the year, exports rose 21.2% and imports grew 24.7%.

Germany Lifts Growth Forecast, France Lowers Outlook

Germany''s economy is expected to expand 2.6% this year, faster than 2.3% forecast earlier, the Economy Ministry said in its Spring forecast, citing strong domestic demand and a favorable labor market situation.

The growth outlook for next year was maintained at 1.8%. The government projects an average 1.75% per annum until 2015.

France cut its growth forecast for 2012. The country''s Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told the French daily Les Echos that the growth forecast was lowered to 2.25%t from 2.50%.

Lagarde noted that the revision was due to the perception that the recovery in the global demand could be slightly slower than expected. The French government expects 2% growth for this year.

Austrian Inflation Increases

Austria''s consumer price index rose 3.1% annually in March, faster than the 3% increase recorded in February, data released by Statistics Austria showed on Friday.

Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages grew 4.4% annually, while clothing and footwear prices moved up 4.1%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased 1.2% in March.

Czech PPI Surges

Czech industrial producer prices rose 6.3% annually in March following a 5.4% rise in February, the Czech Statistics Office said on Friday. The increase seen in March was the fastest since 2005.

On a monthly comparison, prices of industrial producers increased 1% in March, faster than the 0.5% growth recorded in February.

In a separate report, the statistics office showed that export prices decreased 0.2% on a monthly basis in February as against a 1.1% decline in January. Import prices remained same after easing 0.4% in February.

Annually, export prices rose 0.2% in March compared to a 0.6% rise in January. At the same time, import prices increased 4.3% in March compared to January''s 4.6% growth.