FRANKFURT: Inflation in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, crept higher in March with consumer prices rising by 0.3 percent year-on-year, preliminary data showed on Monday.
The previous month, the consumer price index had risen by just 0.1 percent on a 12-month basis, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.
Using the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) -- the yardstick used by the European Central Bank -- inflation in Germany was back in positive territory, rising by 0.1 percent year-on-year in March, but still way under the ECB's annual inflation target of just below 2.0 percent.
In February, HICP fell by 0.1 percent.
The March data are still only preliminary, since they are based on consumer price statistics from only six out of Germany's 16 regional states.
Final data including all 16 states will be published on April 15, Destatis said.
The data should offer some hope that the eurozone can avoid a dangerous deflationary spiral of falling prices.
In January, the ECB unveiled a massive trillion-euro bond purchase programme to ward off deflation and end stagnation in the eurozone economy.
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