In March 2016, the year-on-year decrease in prices was higher than in February, when the fall was 1.4%. A 1.7% fall in consumer prices was not recorded since 2000.
This continues the deflationary pressures which began in February 2014, Raiffeisenbank Austria said in a comment on the figures.
Month on month, prices in March 2016 increased 0.7%. In the first three months of 2016, consumer prices decreased 1.3% on the year on average.
In 2015, consumer prices decreased by 0.5% on average and in 2014 by 0.2%.