DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.7 percent on the month in March to stand 0.2 percent higher than a year earlier, official figures showed on Thursday.
The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which strips out mortgages, rose 0.5 percent on the month and was 0.3 percent higher on an annual basis, the Central Statistics Office said.
Economists polled by Reuters last month forecast inflation of 0.8 percent for 2014 as a whole, rising to 1.6 percent next year.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by John Stonestreet)