Image: VOLKER Weihbold
Inflation was 10.9 percent in February and 11.2 percent in January.
“The main contributors were fuel and heating oil, the prices of which had risen massively at the beginning of the Ukraine war, but have since fallen again and are now having an inflation-dampening effect in a year-on-year comparison. The upward trend in food prices is also weakening,” says Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas on Friday, according to a broadcast.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is aiming for an inflation rate of 2 percent as the optimal value for the economy in the euro area. At the last meeting in mid-March, the ECB again raised interest rates sharply. It was the sixth interest rate hike in a row since the interest rate turnaround in July 2022. The deposit rate, which sets the trend on the financial markets and which financial institutions receive from the central bank for parking excess funds, rose to 3.00 percent. The key interest rate rose to 3.50 percent.
more from economy
