World Business

OECD inflation rate up by 2.1% in March

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-05 09:36

PARIS - The annual inflation rate in the member states of the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation rose by 2.1 percent in the year up to March 2010, mainly boosted by rising energy prices, the Paris-based OECD said Tuesday.

Compared with the 1.9 percent inflation rate in February, this small increase "mainly reflected higher energy prices, which increased by 11.3 percent in the year to March," OECD indicated in its monthly report.

The annual increase rate of food prices in the OECD area posted at 0.2 percent in March, regarded by the rich-country bloc as "a positive rate for the first time since September 2009."

Excluding food and energy, the OECD area March inflation rate was 1.4 percent, down from 1.5 percent in February. The previous peak of the regional inflation rate was 2.4 percent in August 2008.

According to OECD, Canada was the only G7 member where the increase of consumer prices slowed down in March with a rate of 1. 4 percent from 1.6 percent in the previous month.

On the other hand, the annual inflation rate rose sharply in the United Kingdom, where the rate was posted at 3.4 percent from 3.0 percent in February, and Germany, where the change was from 0. 6 percent to 1.1 percent.

The annual inflation accelerated to 1.4 percent in the euro area in March 2010, up from 0.9 percent in February, the report said.

Based on data from national and regional institutes, the OECD measures the change of consumer prices each month across 30 major economies.