CANBERRA, April 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Australia's annual inflation rate slowed to 2 percent, the lowest since December 1999, official figures released on Wednesday show.

    Consumer price index rose 0.9 percent in the March quarter although the prices of vegetables and fruit, petrol and medication had big increases in the same period, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

    Vegetables price increased by 13 percent, while fruit by 4.9 percent, pharmaceuticals 11.3 percent, education 7.6 percent and petrol by 3.4 percent, said ABS.

    However, the stronger Australian dollar helped making up the price increases, with the cost of overseas travel falling by 5.5 percent, car prices down by 1.8 percent and audio visual and computing equipment by 4.5 percent.

    For the whole year, fruit prices rose 13.1 percent, the biggest price rise, followed by 8.7 percent rise in hospital and medical services and 6.3 percent in beer.

    Meanwhile, audio visual and computing equipment prices were 21.3 percent lower and petrol was 4.6 percent lower. Enditem