--German final Mar CPI up 0.1% vs Feb; up 2.5% on year
--German harmonized Mar CPI up 0.2% on month, up 2.5% on year
--German stats:No oil effect on yrly CPI 1st time since Mar'99

Frankfurt, April 10 (BridgeNews) - German consumer prices rose 0.1% in March from February, and were 2.5% higher than a year ago, according to final data released Tuesday by the Federal Statistics Office. Oil products did not have the effect of pushing prices up in annual comparison for the first time since March 1999, it added. On the other hand, a significant push on CPI came from price rises in meat and meat products, fruits, gas and central heating.
* * * Declines in prices in the annual comparison occurred in coffee (-3.4%), color television sets (-2.3%), video-recording (-4.2%) and personal computers (-16.2%).
In western Germany, consumer prices rose 0.1% in March from February and were up 2.5% on the year, while in eastern Germany prices increased 0.2% on the month and were 2.8% higher than in March 2000.
The higher rise in annual consumer prices in eastern Germany was mainly due to the fact that households there are stronger affected by price rises in foods, as well as gas and central heating, the statistics office said.
Germany's harmonized consumer price index, which allows comparisons with other EU and euro-zone countries, was revised to up 0.2% on the month and up 2.5% from March 2000.
German consumer prices in February were up 0.6% on the month and up 2.6% on the year.