(Reuters) - Spain's European-Union harmonised inflation rose 3.2% in the 12 months through March, up from 2.9% increase in the period through February, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Wednesday.
The 12-month harmonised inflation was below the 3.3% expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food and energy prices, rose 3.3% in the 12 months through March, down from 3.5% in the previous month, INE said.
Spanish 12-month national consumer prices rose 3.2% through March, up from a 2.8% increase in February and in line with expectation of analysts polled by Reuters.
(This story has been corrected to fix the core inflation period to March, not February, in paragraph 3)