London, March 24, (dpa/GNA) – Britain’s consumer price inflation slowed unexpectedly in February, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed on Wednesday.
Consumer price inflation eased to 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent in January. The rate was initially forecast to rise to 0.8 percent.
Month-on-month, consumer prices edged up 0.1 percent, in contrast to January’s 0.2-per-cent fall. This was weaker than the economists’ forecast of 0.5 percent.
Excluding energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, core inflation eased to 0.9 percent in February from 1.4 percent in January.
Another report from ONS showed that output prices increased for the second month in a row and was the highest annual rate since August 2019. The annual rate came in at 0.9 percent versus 0.1 percent in January.
Month-on-month, output prices grew 0.6 percent, faster than the 0.8-per-cent rise in January. At the same time, input price inflation accelerated to 2.6 percent, in line with expectations, from 1.6 percent in January.
On month, prices grew 0.6 percent after climbing 1 percent a month ago. Prices were expected to gain 0.7 percent.
GNA