Inflation at lowest for 14 months

Inflation growth has fallen on both of the main measures, official figures show.

Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI), inflation was at its lowest level for 14 months, with the annual rate of inflation unchanged at 2.6% in November.

The Office for National Statistics breaks the RPI figures down into 14 groups and seven of them increased more than the overall rise.

A 14.1% rise in women’s clothing contributed to the largest rise of 9.4% in the clothing and footwear group, while the other three components that make up the group all rose by at least double the overall percentage rise in the RPI.

Under the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), inflation fell to a four-year low with the annual rate down to 2.1% from 2.2% in October.

The fall was due to slower increases in food and energy prices. The sting in the tail is that the recent energy prices have yet to feed into the ONS’s calculations.

The CPI rate is the inflation measure usually used by the coalition government to uprate state benefits in April; the figure for the previous September is used.

On the other hand, train companies are normally allowed to use the RPI rate for July plus 1% to set new train fares for the following January.

However, chancellor George Osborne used his Autumn Statement to restrict the overall rise to just the rise in RPI, although commuters are still likely to be hit hard.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/cpi/consumer-price-indices/november-2013/index.html