British inflation rate drops to 2.2%

Britain's inflation rate dropped sharply to 2.2 percent in October from 2.7 percent in the previous month, according to official figures released on Tuesday. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that prices grew by 2.2 percent in the year to October. Experts have previously expected a inflation rate of 2.5 percent. The slowdown was largely driven by a fall in transport, especially motor fuels, and student tuition fees. According to the ONS statistics, transport prices fell by 1.5 percent between September and October of this year and by 0.1 percent year on year. "Within the transport sector, the main downward contribution came from prices for motor fuels with reports of price cuts at many of the major supermarket chains on the back of decreases in wholesale prices," the ONS said. There were also notable downward contributions from air fares and prices for second hand cars. Education prices rose by 8.2 percent between September and October compared with a rise of 19.1 percent year on year. The downward contribution came principally from British and EU student tuition fees. The CPI figures are believed to ease pressure on the Bank of England (BOE), the central bank, to raise interest rates. The BOE is now striving to use monetary policy as a tool to keep annual inflation close to a government-set target of 2.0 percent, in order to preserve the value of money. However, the annual CPI rate has held above this target level since November 2009.