ECB officials can take heart as March inflation seen at 2% target

Gabriel Makhlouf, governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, will attend the ECB meeting in Frankfurt.

European Central Bank officials about to meet in Frankfurt this week can take heart over inflation: They’ve already got it down to their 2% target.

The gauge compiled by Bloomberg Economics, incorporating 32 variables ranging from unemployment to energy costs, has just hit 1.95% — after a drop in January producer prices published this week fed into the model. Such a decline in the headline inflation rate for March, if it were to materialise, would mark a drastic change from February’s faster-than-expected 2.6% outcome.