Official figures show that Britain's inflation rate slowed more than expected to its weakest rate in seven months in May as the cost of utility bills and food came down.
The Office for National Statistics said consumer prices rose 0.3% last month, taking the annual rate down to 2.5% from 2.8% in April - the lowest since October 2006 but still firmly above the Bank of England's 2% target.
The figures are unlikely to change expectations the Bank of England will raise interest rates at least once more this year.
BoE Governor Mervyn King warned late on Monday that the bank may have to hike borrowing costs for a fifth time since August if data continued to show inflationary pressures.
The ONS said the biggest downward impact on inflation came from utility bills which fell this year compared with a rise a year ago. There was a further downward impact from food and non-alcoholic beverages, mainly due to vegetable prices' falling this year. Meat prices also went down.
The main upward effect came from transport following large increases in the cost of air travel.
In separate data, Britain's goods trade gap with the rest of the world narrowed to its smallest since October 2005 in April, slimming to £6.3 billion from £7.2 billion in March.
