Sri Lanka’s inflation eases to 7.5-pct in March

Mar 28, 2013 (LBO) - Consumer prices in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo rose 7.



5 percent in March 2013 from a year earlier, down from 9.8 percent in February, data from the state statistics office said. The non-food sub-index rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier. The index grew 0.3 percent in the month.

The price index rose 0.1 percent in the month of March, against a 0.4 percent rise in February.

The annual average inflation rose to 8.

8 percent in March from 8.6 percent in February, but it is a lagging indicator averaged across two years.

Sri Lanka's Central Bank had earlier said inflation would start to fall from March as the base effect of a pick-up in inflation last year wore off.

Inflation picked up from February 2012 as the rupee was floated and allowed to fall according to liquidity injected by the monetary authority, ending almost of four years of low single digit inflation.

The food and non-alcoholic beverages sub-index rose 12.

6 percent from a year earlier but the index fell 0.2 percent in March in absolute terms.