Energy Powers Inflation Gain in March

WASHINGTON Consumer prices shot up 0.4 percent in March, thesteepest in more than five years, in a broad-based advance fueled inpart by demand for heating products as winter renewed its chill overmuch of the nation.

The Labor Department said today the increase in its ConsumerPrice Index matched the advance in January when energy costsskyrocketed because of the blizzard that covered much of the East andfrigid temperatures elsewhere.

Consumer prices advanced just 0.2 percent in February, whentemperatures moderated.Energy costs jumped 1.4 percent in March, the biggest advancesince a 1.9 percent gain in January. It was the fourth straight gainafter declining throughout most of 1995.But other components shared in the CPI increase, including a 0.6percent surge in food prices, largest since a 0.8 percent jump inDecember, 1994.Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the so-calledcore rate of inflation was up 0.3 percent, matching the Januaryincrease.For the year so far, inflation at the consumer level has beenrising at an annual rate of 4 percent. The CPI rose just 2.5 percentin 1995, the fourth year in a row it remained below 3 percent.