Inflation in Greece fell to 1.7 percent in March from 2.1 percent in February on a 12-month basis, the Greek statistics authority said on Monday. In March of last year inflation was 4.5 percent, reflecting a sharp rise in prices because of tax increases required by the European Union and International Monetary Fund under a programme to rescue Greece from its debt crisis. On an EU harmonised basis, inflation in March was 1.4 percent, down from 4.3 percent in March 2011. The government has forecast that inflation for the whole of 2012 will be 0.6 percent.