UK inflation: Slowing food prices drive surprise fall
Slowing food prices helped drive a surprise fall in inflation in August, with prices now rising at their slowest rate in a year-and-a-half.
Inflation, which measures how prices change over time, fell to 6.7% in the year to August, down from 6.8% in July, official figures show.
It is the third month in a row that the figure has dropped.
Prices for milk, cheese and vegetables all fell last month, but the price of cereals rose.
Most experts had expected inflation to increase due to a rise in the cost of petrol and diesel last month, driven by higher oil prices.
But a slowdown in rising food prices and a drop in air fares and accommodation costs all helped drive the overall rate of inflation lower.
When the rate of inflation falls, it does not mean prices are coming down, but that they are rising less quickly.
Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the Office for National Statistics, said it remained “a mixed picture”, but said food manufacturers were “paying less for food than a year ago,” and this was “starting to pass through to consumers.”