THE inflation rate remained steady at 2.5 per cent in January, the Department of Statistics announced yesterday. The rate was the same as December last year and marks the continuation of a trend which has seen inflation on a downward curve since it hit 4.1 per cent 12 months ago. The Bermuda Consumer Price Index showed the strongest contributor to the rise in the cost of living in January was rent, which cost 2.9 per cent more.