It was the currency bloc's fourth consecutive month of deflation, though it was an improvement on February's inflation rate of -0.3% and January's -0.6%.
It's reduced costs for businesses and allowed them to raise their prices at a slower rate, which has been a big contributor to the disinflation we've seen.
The effect is deflationary bathos, which nails what Aeschylus sees as the folksy and sentimental way in which Euripides plays on the emotions of his audience (lines 1052–88).
The news raised fears thatJapan may slip back into deflation, despite a formidable effort by the central bank over the past two years to break the country's deflationary spiral.
The downward spiral has led to a deflationary mindset that Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda blames for thwarting his efforts to revive the economy, using every trick in the central bankers' playbook.
During nearly 15 years of deflation the bank was repeatedly criticised for failing to pursue quantitative easing with the conviction and scale that would persuade consumers and markets that inflation would return.