This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 68%. (I'm a bot)

> The eurozone's annual inflation rate fell sharply in March as plunging energy prices eased pressure on the cost of living across the 20 countries that use the single currency.

> As a result, annual energy inflation dropped from 13.7% to -0.9%. In contrast to falling gas prices, the cost of food continued to rise for eurozone consumers.

> Inflation data for the UK for March has not yet been published but figures for February showed headline inflation rising from 10.1% to 10.4%, while core inflation rose from 5.8% to 6.2%. Diego Iscaro, the head of European economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: "We estimate that core inflation is close to its peak, and the pressure from food prices is also likely to ease during the second quarter.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: inflation^#1 Core^#2 prices^#3 cost^#4 food^#5

No shit? It was all just the speculation and price gauging of the energy sector? Inconceivable.

> food, tobacco and alcoholic drinks were 15.4% more expensive in March than a year earlier, compared with a 15% annual rise in February.

But is it really a fall in inflation?

It was really nice of the energy sector to simply not raise prices again this year.

Gee, it's almost like the energy sector was triggering a mass corporate price gouge or something.

Almost worth posting this to r/hmm

Not that you'd notice when you go shopping

Dutch supermarkets: hold my beer, im gonna raise them prises so hard.

Yeah I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve never seen grocery prices drop.

When cheaper Döner?

I wonder how many energy company execs are having trouble paying their grocery bills.

That’s a huge misunderstanding on your part. Inflation means „how fast prices rise”. When inflation falls prices aren’t falling, they are rising slower.

None.

Long time wait buddy

Yes. Because inflation is a measure of the rate of change of prices.

Now swap „inflation“ with „price-shock“.

So happy for you, dear Europeans.

Yeah, there's almost never a "fall in prices". That's what people want, but never what actually happens, even in the "good times". When it does, it's practically 100% of the time during a recession. As others said, a "fall in inflation" only means a slowdown in the increase.

In February inflation was 15%. In March it was 15.4%.
Is that a fall then?

yes, if you don't just look at the food inflation like you are.

Falling inflation does not mean that prices will drop

Swedish supermarkets: watch me bro

In inflation rates? Yes. If the prices are 15% higher than the same time the previous year, then that indicates an inflation of about 1.25% per month on average, but the inflation between February and March was only 0.4% which is clearly a drop.

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Romanian hypermarkets: hold my pălincă

Not in Sweden...we seem to be royally fucked.

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the "growing" fell.

its still staying as ..."grown" as it is.

(if that makes sense)

So the main cost for most people?

Call me when greedflation stops. I am looking at you ICA

Yes, the main cost, not all the cost.

Slovak supermarkets: Hold my pálenka!

30% groceries inflation is where it's at.

If you go 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and then 60 to 70 in 3 seconds, your acceleration has decreased in the last 3 seconds, even though you went faster. It’s the same thing.

Swiss supermarkets take it to a whole new level! I just noticed I’m paying literally double for a bag of Catsan litter vs 6 months ago…

Dropping prices would be a deflation.. that would be ugly

Cries in British

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True, it could even have looked like this:

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15% increase between July and August, but otherwise mostly 0% monthly increases, and then ~0.35% increase between Feb2023-Mar2023

weird

The reason certain things are not included in inflation (or are weighted) is because they are often things that vary in price outside of actual inflation, so they do not give a good view of if inflation is actually happening. Food and gas and housing often go in strange directions price wise for many reasons other than inflation.

Inflation is not trying to measure how much people have to spend to live. There are other measures for that.

Perfect explanation.

It’s not a deflationary period, just less inflation. We probably won’t see a deflationary period so now is the time to ask for a raise.

Speculation doesn't affect prices in the long run, as you need to buy and sell in order to speculate.

Main cost? Most of my money is spent on rent. Or retirement. Or gas. Or my car (fuel,repairs,etc.).

Food isn't even my top3.

Which means raises in wages might actually make things more stable and help people which is a good thing. There seems to have been some effort into raising wages in Europe lately

Haha, here's another example which satisfies the supplied percentages and dates. It shows a 15% inflation Feb2022-Feb2023 and a 15.4% inflation Mar2022-Mar2023.

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But not in the uk

Don't quite get the analogy.

For example

Feb 2022 price = $1000

Mar 2022 price = $5000

Feb 2023 price = $1150

Mar 2023 price = $5770

This shows a 15% increase Feb 2022 - Feb 2023

and 15.4% increase Mar 2022 - Mar 2023.

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Do the numbers show a fall in inflation?

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I guess that sort of thing is very individual. My house payments have not changed at all. Food and natural-gas prices have skyrocketed, and I drive so little that petrol increases hardly affect me.

Because it's energy inflation not food or product inflation (although obviously it can also increase the price of food when it costs more to refrigerate the store or transport it to the store). You wouldn't notice it when going shopping you might notice it at the pump or when paying for heating/electricity at the end of the month.

Falling prices is deflation which tends to be even worse then significant inflation. What you want is a slowdown in the increase so paychecks catch up and make things more affordable

Yep

Your numbers are inherently flawed. Not sure if it’s because of you’re lack of understanding or intentional. You cant have 1xxx in February and have 5xxxx in March.

They're just examples - there were no actual numbers in the article, only dates and percentage increases

In your example you have 500% inflation from F22 - M22. Then 4xx% deflation M22 to F23. Then almost 500% inflation again. Although they technically fit the headline, the narrative won’t be the same, as you likely have currency instability. More accurate numbers would be

Feb 2022 = $100 Mar 2022 = $100 Feb 2023 = $115 Mar 2023 = $115.4

What they’re not showing, is January numbers, which hypothetically could look like

Jan 2022 = $100 Jan 2023 = $110

Adding that, you can see the rate of change YoY being 10%, 15%, 15.4%.

Not sure if that helps you visualize it better.

Why? Everyone says is bad but I never saw an example where it's really bad.

Norwegian supermarkets: You mean your prices weren't already raised?

Ever heard of the Great Depression?

I wish people would stop calling it inflation and call what it really is... Price gouging.

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But which do you spend more on per month?

Yup, just today in NL saw a meal I used to buy last year for 3.80eu, now it's almost 7euro. Was just laughing at that price. Almost criminal how they are upping prices still.

In Germany supermarket prices raised by more than 23% year to year … its crazy. Energy prices nearly went back to normal but supermarket prices stay this high and keep increasing

My grocery bill says otherwise

Deflation means its more expensive to borrow money so credit tightens, loans are more expensive, and jobs are lost. The 2008 recession saw this

Well, there could be a negative inflation which we typically call recession.

"Falling prices" used to be called "competitive pricing". Funny how things change.

Generally our economy is tuned to expect money remaining in circulation (i.e. being re-invested). Under deflation, said money stays under your bed instead since it appreciates faster than it would if you were to invest, new companies are not created, old ones cannot get loans or funding and everything generally grinds to a halt. An economy structured around stable performance probably wouldn't struggle that much with this, but that is not the economy we have.