Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 2.1% in the year to January 2011, the same inflation rate as in December 2010. Energy and food prices continued to rise at relatively high rates: 8.4% and 2.6% respectively in January 2011, broadly unchanged from December 2010.

Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose by 1.3 % in January 2011, compared with 1.2% in December 2010.

Consumer prices, selected areas
January 2011, percentage change on the same month of the previous year



Inflation accelerated in the year to January 2011 in the United Kingdom (to 4.0%, up from 3.7% in December) and Germany (to 2.0%, up from 1.7%). It was broadly stable in the other G7 countries with annual inflation rates at 2.3% in Canada, 2.1% Italy, 1.8% in France, 1.6% in the United States and 0.0% in Japan. Euro area annual inflation (HICP) rose to 2.3%, up from 2.2% in December.

Compared to the previous month, consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 0.2% in January 2011. They rose by 0.5 % in the United States, 0.4% in Italy, 0.3% in Canada and 0.1% in the United Kingdom. They fell by 0.2% in France and Japan and by 0.4% in Germany.