Consumer prices in the UK in December rose by 10.5% in annualized terms, according to data from the National Statistics Office (ONS) of the country.

Thus, inflation slowed down compared to 10.7% in November.

The inflation dynamics matched the consensus forecasts of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and Trading Economics.

The slowdown in inflation was noted for the second month in a row, with the growth rate of consumer prices becoming the lowest for 3 months.

The weakening of inflation was primarily due to a smaller rise in the cost of motor fuel (up 11.5% vs. 17.2% in November), with restaurant and hotel price rises reaching a record 11.4% since 1991 (10.2% a month earlier), the ONS said. Food prices rose 16.9%, the most significant increase since 1977.

Consumer price growth in the country in December relative to the previous month amounted to 0.4%, the same as a month earlier, which also coincided with the forecast of experts.

Prices excluding food, alcohol, tobacco and energy (core inflation, CPI Core) rose 6.3% year-over-year and 0.5% month-over-month last month. In November, these indexes were up 6.3% and 0.3%, respectively.

Retail prices (RPI) soared 13.4% year-on-year in December, up from 14% a month earlier. It is the RPI index that is used by British employers in salary negotiations. The difference in the dynamics of CPI and RPI indexes is due to the inclusion of housing costs in RPI, as well as the different weighting of airfares, insurance and gasoline prices.

On a month-on-month basis, the RPI index increased by 0.6% after a similar rise in November.