Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 1.9% in the year to February 2010, down from 2.1% in January. This small decrease in inflation rates mainly reflected the slowing down of energy prices, which increased by 8.4% in February, compared with 10.6% in January.

Consumer prices for food in the OECD area fell by 0.3% in the year to February 2010, following a fall of 0.7% in January. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose by 1.5% in the year to February 2010, down from 1.6% in January.



France was the only G7 country where inflation edged up to 1.3% in February from 1.1% in the previous month. By contrast, annual inflation rates declined in the United Kingdom (3.0% in February down from 3.5% in the previous month) and the United States (2.1% down from 2.6%) with smaller declines in Canada (1.6%), Italy (1.2%) and Germany (0.6%). Deflation continued in Japan where consumer prices fell by 1.1% in the year to February compared with a decline of 1.3% in January. Euro area annual inflation (HICP) was 0.9% in February 2010 compared with 1.0% in the previous month.

Month-on-month, consumer prices in the OECD area increased by 0.2% in February, unchanged from January. They rose by 0.6% in France, by 0.4% in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom and by 0.1% in Italy, while remaining stable in the United States.