COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's annual inflation rate accelerated to a six-month high of 5.5 percent in March from a year earlier, well above analysts' expectations and rising from 2.7 percent in February on a new consumer price index, government data showed on Friday.

Annual average inflation as measured on a 12-month moving average eased to a 17-month low of 5.9 percent this month, from February's 6.1 percent.

A Reuters poll by 15 analysts had expected annual inflation to have risen to 3.9 percent and annual average inflation to slow to 5.8 percent.