British annual consumer price inflation slowed last month for the first time since September, dropping more than expected after favourable base effects and a fall in the prices of games and toys.
The Office for National Statistics said consumer price inflation slowed to 3% last month from January's 14-month high of 3.5%. Analysts had expected the annual rate to ease to 3.1%.
The figures will fuel hopes that inflation has peaked and will drop back below the Bank of England's 2% target by the end of the year.
Analysts said that February was the second month in a row that inflations undershot the consensus. It said this means they can be pretty confident that the Bank of England's view that inflation will fall sharply this year is on track.
The Bank of England has insisted that the recent spike in inflation will be transitory, as it was caused by base effects relating to 2008's sharp oil price falls and a temporary cut in VAT dropping out of the year on year comparison.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as energy and food prices, eased to 2.9% in February from 3.1%. On the month, consumer price inflation rose 0.4%, versus a 0.2% fall in January.
This was a smaller rise than in February 2009, when prices rebounded by a record 0.9% after heavier seasonal discounting in the January sales.
The ONS said recreation and culture made the biggest contribution to the fall in the annual CPI rate, knocking 0.17 percentage points off the rate, followed by housing and household services which took off 0.10 percentage points. Clothing and footwear added 0.08 percentage points to the annual rate.
