Inflation reached 1.6 percent in March compared with the previous month after a 1.8 percent rise in food prices, it said.

Prices for fruits, vegetables and chicken were up 7.8 percent, 8 percent and 12.6 percent respectively from February.

The government, in a bid to ease financial pressure after a fall in energy earnings, has approved import restrictions, causing food shortages that pushed up some food prices amid poor domestic production.

Algeria's 2016 full-year inflation reached 6.4 percent, up from 4.8 percent the previous year.