London: British 12-month inflation slowed to 2.4 per cent in April, hitting a seven-month low on the back of lower transport costs and oil prices, official data showed on Tuesday.
“The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) grew by 2.4 per cent in the year to April 2013, down from 2.8 per cent in March,” the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
That was the lowest level since September 2012 when it stood at 2.2 per cent.
Falling transport costs, particularly from motor fuels and airfares, pushed the annual inflation rate lower.
“The drop in CPI inflation... primarily reflected a combination of lower petrol prices and slightly smaller duty increases than in 2012,” noted Capital Economics analyst Samuel Tombs.
On a month-on-month basis, the CPI rose 0.2 per cent in April. Analysts had forecast a gain of 0.4 per cent.
The Bank of England’s main task is to use monetary policy as a tool to keep annual inflation close to a government-set target level of 2 per cent, in order to preserve the value of money.
However, the annual CPI rate has held stubbornly above the target since November 2009.
Britain is a member of the European Union but not of the Eurozone, so retains control over its central bank monetary policy.
