Goods’ prices fell by 0.5% in annual terms while prices of services increased by 2.8%.
A January hike in electricity prices by and large drove the annual inflation, Swedbank said in reaction to the data and predicted an excise tax hike for alcohol products as of 1st of July will add around 0.1 percentage points to their current average inflation forecast of 0.5% in 2015.
"In line with our expectations, after a downtick in January and February, consumer price annual growth returned to moderate 0.4%. Without the electricity price increase, annual deflation would stand at 0.5%," Swedbank said.
"In monthly terms, prices rose by 0.8%... Consumer prices might continue to increase moderately in annual terms also in the forthcoming months," Swedbank said.
