Consumer prices in the UK in February rose by 2.8% in annual terms, the country’s National Statistics Office (ONS) reported on Wednesday.
Inflation thus slowed from 3% in January. Analysts polled by Trading Economics had on average forecast a 2.9 per cent rise in prices last month.
Food and non-alcoholic drinks rose 3.3% (the same as in January), alcohol and tobacco products rose 5.7% (up 4.9%), furniture and household goods rose 0.2% (up 0.5%), while the cost of clothing and footwear fell 0.6% (up 1.8%). Prices at restaurants and hotels rose 3.4 per cent (up 3.3 per cent). Communication services became more expensive by 7.3% (up 5.9%), educational services by 7.5% (the same as in January), medical services by 5.1% (up 5%) and transport services by 1.8% (up 1.7%).
Consumer prices in Britain in February relative to the previous month increased by 0.4%, while in January there was a decrease of 0.1%.
Prices excluding the cost of food, alcohol, tobacco and energy (CPI Core, core inflation) increased by 3.5% year-on-year and 0.4% month-on-month. In January, the former rose 3.7% and the latter fell 0.4%.
Retail price increases (RPI) slowed to an annualised 3.4% last month from January’s 3.6%. This is the indicator used by UK employers when negotiating wages. The difference in the performance of the CPI and RPI indices is due to the inclusion of housing costs in the RPI, as well as the different weighting of air fares, insurance and petrol prices. RPI in February rose by 0.6% m/m after a 0.1% contraction in January.
