Drop in consumer inflation
Consumer inflation dropped to 4.5 per cent last month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).The fall in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measurement, of 0.7 per cent compared to September, was the largest month-on-month drop in 16 years.Declining transportation costs were cited by the ONS as the main reason for the large fall."The largest downward pressure on the CPI annual rate came from transport costs where the price of fuels and lubricants fell this year but rose last year," said an ONS statement."The decrease this year was triggered by a sharp fall in the price of crude oil."Despite this, the inflation rate was still higher than the European Union's provisional figure for last month, at 3.7 per cent.In the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure, there was also a drop from five per cent to 4.2 per cent, its largest fall since 2003.
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