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Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which are heavily weighted in the basket, rose by 1.0 percent on the month, after a 0.1 percent rise in February, statistics office data showed.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast consumer prices rose by 0.5 percent on the month in March and the annual inflation rate at 2.6 percent.
Core inflation was forecast at 0.6 percent month on month and the annual inflation rate was seen at 2.3 percent.