Inflation in Ukraine in March rose to 1.8% against 1% in February and 1.1% in January, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine has reported.

According to its data, the annual growth of consumer prices accelerated to 15.1% in March from 14.2% in February, 12.6% in January and 12.4% over 2016.

As reported, the Ukrainian government expects inflation to slow down in 2017 to 8.1%.

The National Bank of Ukraine, which also initially forecasted it at 8%, in January deteriorated its forecast to 9.1%.

"Inflation in annual terms will remain high during the first three quarters due to the effect of the comparison base. It will return to a single-digit level in the fourth quarter of 2017," the NBU said on March 2.