SANTIAGO: Chile's consumer price index posted a 0.4 percent rise in March, its fastest pace since October, coming in above expectations for a 0.3 percent jump and driven higher by rising education, food and non-alcoholic beverage costs, the government data showed on Monday.

The CPI rose 0.1 percent in February and 0.2 percent in January, after remaining unchanged in December.

Inflation in the 12 months through March was 1.5 percent, below the bottom end of the central bank's 2 percent to 4 percent tolerance range. Core inflation was 0.2 percent in March.