The annual rate of inflation in the euro zone remained stable in March at 2.1%, according to a preliminary
estimate by the EU statistics agency Eurostat.
The figure remained above the European Central Bank's medium-term target of below 2%.
Separate figures from the European Commission showed that business and consumer confidence in the euro zone slumped in March.
The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) fell to -0.08, down from 0.2, while the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell by 1.4 points to 97.4 points.
For both the euro zone and the full EU, the economic sentiment indicator has show a nearly continuous decline since last November, the commission noted.
