(Removes ‘nearly’ from headline) LIMA, April 1 (Reuters) - Consumer prices in Peru rose 0.84% in March, the largest year-on-year increase in four years as the cost of food and education jumped, the government said on Thursday. The increase in prices is the biggest since March 2017, according to government data. The March statistic pushed rolling 12-month inflation to 2.60%, approaching the upper limit of the central bank’s 1%-3% target range. Peru’s economy contracted 11.1% last year, ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic and racked by political crisis. Annual inflation in 2020 hit 1.97%, slightly higher than the 1.90% increase in consumer prices registered in 2019. (Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Chris Reese)