Annual inflation rate in the OECD area slowed to 2.5 percent in the year to April 2012, compared with 2.7 percent in the year to March 2012, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Tuesday.

"This slowdown in the annual rate of inflation mainly reflected developments in energy prices, with inflation (4.8 percent in April, compared with 6.5 percent in March) slowing to its lowest rate since August 2010, and food prices (3.1 percent increase compared with 3.5 percent)," the OECD said in its latest report.

Taking the OECD as a whole, the annual inflation rate was broadly stable at 2.0 percent in April, excluding food and energy.

The monthly report said the annual inflation rate in the G7 bloc slowed from 2.4 percent to 2.1 percent, with food at 3 percent, energy at 3.6 percent. If not including food and energy, the rate was at 1.7 percent.

On month-on-month basis, the OECD figures indicated that Britain and the United States saw their annual inflation rate at 3 percent and 2.3 percent respectively in April, 5 and 4 points lower respectively than the previous month.

The rate is more moderate in France at 2.1 percent, 2 points lower than the previous month. The Japan posted its annual inflation rate at 0.4 percent, down from 0.5 percent in March.

The rate was stable in Germany at 2.1 percent. However, Italy remained unchanged at 3.3 percent and has hovered at this level since February 2012. In the meantime, annual inflation picked up slightly in Canada to 2.0 percent.

"Euro area annual inflation (as measured by the HICP) slowed to 2.6 percent in April, down from 2.7 percent," the report said.

In the non-OECD area, the new figures showed that China's annual inflation rate decelerated to 3.4 percent in April, down from 3.6 percent in March, Brazil down to 5.1 percent and Russia down to 3.6 percent.

But annual inflation rate accelerated sharply in Indonesia to 4.5 percent, up from 4.0 percent and more moderately in South Africa to 6.2 percent, up by 1 point.

Compared to the previous month, consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 0.3 percent in April, the OECD report concluded.