Inflation in Ireland, as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, is estimated to have moderated to an annual rate of 7% in March, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
This compares to a rate of 8.1% in February and is the slowest annual rate of inflation since March 2022.
The CSO said that prices in the month rose by 0.9% since February.
Food prices are estimated to have risen by 1.1% over the month and now running at an annual rate of 13.5%.
Energy prices are estimated to have fallen by 0.9% since February and are up 11.7% on an annual basis.
Today’s release from the CSO also includes a measure of inflation that excludes energy but does include food inflation. It is running at 6.3% on an annual basis.
This is different to “core inflation”, which excludes both energy and food.
Eurostat will publish euro area wide estimates for March inflation tomorrow.
The CSO will publish its more detailed consumer price index for March later next month.
Finance Minister Michael McGrath said this month that he still expects inflation to slow to an average rate of between 4% and 5% across 2023 despite a surprise pick-up in February, though he added the rate of core inflation remains a concern.