Sri Lanka's consumer price inflation rate dropped to 2.5% in March from 5.1% in February, official data showed on Monday, as the impact of a higher sales tax needed to meet targets set under a $2.9 billion IMF programme receded.

The National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) captures broad retail price inflation and is released with a lag of 21 days every month. (Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Toby Chopra)