Greek Official Inflation Drops Sharply to 1.7% in March

Inflation in Greece fell to 1.7 percent in March from 2.1 percent in February on a 12-month basis, the Greek statistics authority said on Monday.

In March of last year inflation was 4.5 percent, reflecting a sharp rise in prices because of tax increases required by the European Union and International Monetary Fund under a program to rescue Greece from its debt crisis.

On an EU harmonized basis, inflation in March was 1.4 percent, down from 4.3 percent in March 2011.

The government has forecast that inflation for the whole of 2012 will be 0.6 percent.