Mar 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka's annual average inflation rate declined to a recorded 18.6 percent in March from 20.3 percent in the previous month, the Central Bank reported today.

According to the Department of Census and Statistics, the consumer price inflation rate fell sharply to 5.3 percent in March from 7.6 percent in February. The decline was attributed to the 1.3 percent drop in the food and non-alcoholic beverages category.

The inflation rate has been declining continually for the past nine months from a peak at 28.2 percent in June 2008 due to high global food and oil prices.

However, the Core inflation, on a point-to-point basis, rose marginally from 14.1 per cent in February, 2009 to 14.2 per cent in March, 2009 with the annual average rate also rising from 14.8 per cent to 15.2 per cent, the Central Bank reported. The slight increase was attributed to the impact of price increases in the sub-categories.