By Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka's key inflation rate rose to 1.5% in October from 1.3% a month ago, the statistics department said on Tuesday. The Colombo Consumer Price Index, a leading indicator for broader national prices, tracks inflation in Colombo, Sri Lanka's biggest city.

Food prices fell 5.2% in October after declining 5.2% in September, from a year earlier, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement. Prices for non-food items, however, climbed slightly to 4.9% in October after rising 4.7% in September.

Sri Lanka experienced record high inflation after its economy was pummelled by the worst financial crisis in decades last year triggered by low foreign exchange reserves.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, editing by Ed Osmond)