14/06/2005

Inflation remains steady at 1.9%

Consumer price inflation in the UK remained at 1.9% in May, the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have shown.

The ONS said that a fall in petrol prices helped to offset price rises in food and air fares.

The ONS reported that food prices overall rose by more than a year ago, with the main contributions coming from meat, especially poultry and fruit, in particular, strawberries.

However, falling transport costs offset the rise in food prices. Petrol and diesel prices eased in May, compared to last year when they rose significantly, reflecting increased crude oil prices. The ONS said this “comfortably outweighed” a rise in airfares, compared to last year’s prices.

However, retail price inflation fell in May to 2.9% from 3.2% the previous month. The retail price index – which excludes mortgage interest repayments – also dropped to 2.1% from 2.3% in April.

The ONS said that this reflected a large downward contribution from housing costs. House prices, which are used to calculate depreciation costs – the amount that homeowners spend to maintain their property – were unchanged this year, but increased a year ago.

(KMcA/MB)

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