German inflation turns positive in March

[March 30, 2016]  BERLIN (Reuters) - German annual inflation turned positive in March, preliminary data showed on Wednesday, suggesting that the European Central Bank's expansionary monetary policy is helping buoy prices in the euro zone.

German prices, harmonized to compare with other European countries (HICP), rose by 0.1 percent on the year after falling by 0.2 percent in February, the Federal Statistics Office said.

The March reading, far from the European Central Bank's target for the whole euro zone of just below 2 percent, was stronger than expected. The Reuters consensus forecast was for annual consumer prices to fall by 0.1 percent.

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Paul Carrel)

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