THE Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Wednesday the consumer prices inflation in the OECD area picked up to 1.7 per cent in February compared with 1.5 per cent in January.

The decrease in energy prices moderated to negative 0.1 per cent from negative 3.9 per cent in January, while food price inflation hardly slowed and stood at 3 per cent, compared with 3.1 per cent in January.

The OECD annual inflation excluding food and energy slowed slightly, to 1.6 per cent in February compared with 1.7 per cent in the previous month.

In February, inflation increased in the US (to 1.7 per cent from 1.4 per cent in January), Germany (to 1.3 per cent from 1 per cent), Italy (to 0.6 per cent from 0.4 per cent) and Canada (to 1.1 per cent from 1 per cent).

It slowed in the UK (to 0.7 per cent from 0.9 per cent), while it was stable in France at 0.6 per cent.

In Japan, overall price deflation continued in February to negative 0.4 per cent, but at a slower pace than in January when it had been negative 0.6 per cent.

In the Euro area, overall inflation was stable at 0.9 per cent. Excluding food and energy, the inflation slowed to 1.1 per cent compared with 1.4 per cent in January.

Annual inflation in the G20 area as a whole increased to 2.4 per cent in February compared with 2.2 per cent in January.

Among non-OECD G20 economies, it increased in Argentina (to 40.7 per cent from 38.5 per cent), India (to 4.5 per cent from 3.2 per cent), Brazil (to 5.2 per cent from 4.6 per cent) and Russia (to 5.7 per cent from 5.2 per cent).

On the other hand, annual inflation decreased in Saudi Arabia (to 5.2 per cent from 5.7 per cent), South Africa (to 2.9 per cent from 3.2 per cent) and Indonesia (to 1.4 per cent from 1.6 per cent).

In China, overall prices continued to fall in February (negative 0.2 per cent), but at a slower pace than in January (negative 0.3 per cent)