MNI 5 THINGS: Tobacco Prices Save BOE's Blushes

By Jamie Satchi, Jai Lakhani Laurie Laird

     LONDON (MNI) - The following are the key points from inflation data

published Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics.

     - Inflation continues to abate, touching a 20-month low in November, but

remained above the Bank of England's target for the twenty-first straight month.

     - Only a rise in tobacco duties prevented a sharper fall in inflation.

Tobacco prices jumped by 3.4% -- adding 0.07 percentage points to the change in

CPI. Absent the imposition of tobacco duties, CPI would have fallen even further

below Bank of England staff forecast of a 2.5% rise in November.

     - Recreation and culture prices continue to drive fluctuations in the CPI,

with computer games prices and live music admissions exerting one of the biggest

downward influences on the change in CPI.

     - London house prices were lower by 1.7% in October, slightly better than

the 1.8% annual fall in September. London prices have fallen for four straight

months, the longest stretch since the third quarter of 2009.

     - The fate of RPI is still up in the air, with a National Statistics

official saying only that the ONS awaits recommendations from a House of Lords

review that was due at the end of October.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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