A Fine Margin

There was a welcome sharp fall in headline inflation in the Eurozone in March as the sharp jump in energy prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine early last year started to drop out of the annual rate. Inflation fell to 6.9% from 8.5% in February and is now well below the peak level of 10.6% hit last October.

Ireland’s manufacturing sector crept back into contraction territory in March. Intakes of new orders and manufacturing production both decreased on the month following some tentative signs of improvement in February and consequently, firms scaled back input purchasing further.