UK consumer price inflation unexpectedly slowed in August and factory gate prices declined for the second consecutive month, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Wednesday.
The consumer price index posted an annual increase of 6.7 percent in August after rising 6.8 percent in July.
Inflation was expected to rise to 7.0 percent. Moreover, this was the weakest inflation since February 2022.
On a monthly basis, the CPI was up 0.3 percent, in contrast to the 0.4 percent fall in July. Prices were forecast to rebound 0.7 percent in August.
Excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, core inflation weakened to 6.2 percent from 6.9 percent in the previous month.
Another data from the ONS showed that the annual fall in output prices slowed to 0.4 percent from revised 0.7 percent in July. Prices were expected to drop 0.6 percent. Similarly, input prices declined at a slower pace of 2.3 percent after falling 3.2 percent in the prior month. The pace of drop was also smaller than the expected 2.7 percent decrease.
On month, the output price index registered a 0.2 percent increase, the same rate of rise as seen in July but faster than economists' forecast of 0.1 percent gain.
Meanwhile, input prices climbed 0.4 percent month-on-month, offsetting the 0.4 percent decrease in July. Economists had forecast prices to climb 0.2 percent.
