By BLOOMBERG

LONDON • UK inflation eased to a 20-month low in November as a sharp fall in oil prices brought down the cost of filling up a vehicle.

Consumer-price growth slowed to 2.3% from 2.4% in October, as forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Core inflation slipped to 1.8% from 1.9%.

Office for National Statistics said downward pressure came from the cost of auto fuel, which fell 1.1% compared to a 1.6% increase in November last year. Other drivers include food, computer games and admissions for live music. Upward pressures came from clothing prices, hotels and restaurants.

Tobacco prices made the largest upward contribution, boosted by budget tax increases.

Inflation so far this quarter has undershot forecasts made by the Bank of England (BoE) last month.

The BoE had forecast a Consumer Price Index rate of 2.5% for both October and November.

Brexit crisis has seen traders paring bets on a rate rise next year, despite evidence of growing inflationary pressure in the labour market.

BoE is expected to keep its benchmark rate at 0.75% this week and traders are ruling out the possibility of a hike before Britain leaves the European Union (EU) on March 29.

“A move below the central bank’s 2% target looks almost certain next year, if there’s a Brexit deal. Lower oil prices, stronger pound and a slow recovery in domestic inflation could see the target breached as early as the first quarter and remain below 2% for most of 2019. But, it’s still unlikely to prevent the central bank from raising interest rates twice,” said Dan Hanson, Bloomberg Economics.

Producer input prices fell 2.3% from October, driven down by a 11.8% drop in the price of crude oil. The decline saw the annual rate of increase dropping to 5.6% from 10.3%. Output prices rose 0.2%, taking the year-on-year rate to 3.1%.

Meanwhile, after last-ditch Cabinet negotiations, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday set out the government’s long-awaited immigration plans for post-Brexit Britain.

The government will hold a 12-month public consultation before deciding whether potential migrants should earn over £30,000 (RM159,000) a year before they qualify to enter as highly-skilled workers after Britain leaves the EU, Javid said on BBC Radio 4.

Javid repeatedly refused to be drawn on whether the government has ditched its target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, saying only that the government had an “objective” to reduce immigration to “sustainable levels”.

“We want to focus on high skills, and if someone is high skilled, they should be earning more than the median salary,” he said.

Javid also denied the plans would harm the economy, arguing many countries — including the US and Canada — have strong economies without freedom of movement.