Ireland's inflation rate of 5.1 per cent is more than double the average rate for leading industrialised countries, according to data released yesterday.

Inflation figures for March, produced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), show inflation in the 30 member group averaging 2.4 per cent in the month, when measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This compares to 2.1 per cent in February.

The jump reflects the fact that all countries were affected by higher oil and food prices. When these effects are excluded the "core inflation" measure was down from February's 2.2 per cent to 2.1 per cent in March.

In the euro area, inflation averaged 1.9 per cent in March and producer price data for the region, also released yesterday by EU statistics office Eurostat, suggests inflationary pressure in the region is easing. Core producer price inflation for the region, a measure of factory gate prices excluding volatile energy and construction components, was 3.4 per cent annually, compared with 3.5 per cent in February.

Strong differences remain in the inflationary performances of different countries. CPI inflation was highest in Turkey at 10.9 per cent and lowest in Japan, where prices fell annually by 0.1 per cent. Ireland's CPI inflation rate, 5.1 per cent, was more than twice the OECD average rate and the 4th highest in the OECD after Turkey, Greece and Iceland.

However, Ireland's rate of food price inflation was just 0.8 per cent, significantly lower than the average OECD rate for this component, 3.2 per cent.