ZURICH, April 3(Reuters) - Swiss inflation edged below expectations in March as fuel costs fell sharply, data showed on Monday, but it remained well above the central bank's target level.
Consumer prices increased last month by 2.9% year on year, down from 3.4% in February, marking the 13th month in succession that price increases have exceeded the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) 0-2% goal.
Both Credit Suisse and UBS were anticipating a rate of 3.1%, and J.Safra Sarasin was expecting 3.2%.
Prices were 0.2% higher month-on-month due to rising prices for air transport, package holidays and new cars. Vegetables and clothing were also more expensive due to the end of seasonal sales.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items like fuel and food, was 0.2% compared with February and 2.2% compared with March 2022.
Swiss headline annual CPI has been above the SNB's target range since February 2022 and, as part of ongoing efforts to rein it in, the central bank hiked interest rates for a fourth policy meeting in succession, by 50 basis point to 1.5%, last month.
Prior to Monday's data, many analysts were expecting at least one further SNB hike in June. (Reporting by John Revill; editing by John Stonestreet)
