The annual rate of inflation fell for a second consecutive month in November, but high electricity costs kept it above five percent.

Government figures published yesterday showed consumers paid 5.2 percent more for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) 'basket' of goods and services than they did a year earlier.

That marks a pullback from the 5.6 percent rate in October, but it was the fourth successive month that the inflation rate was at five percent or higher. In September, inflation reached a 17-year high of 5.9 percent.

The cost of fuel and power was the major contributor to the higher cost of living, as consumers paid 38.1 percent more than they did in November 2007.

Soaring oil prices last summer led to a substantial increase in the fuel adjustment charge on bills from power company Belco. Belco is still burning fuel purchased when prices were higher, so the benefit of lower oil prices seen in recent weeks has not yet been felt.

On the plus side for consumers, the fuel and power sector recorded its first month-to-month fall since March 2007, dipping 0.1 percent from the October figure, as the cost of a cylinder of propane gas fell 3.2 percent.

Oil prices have fallen around $100 a barrel from their high of $147 last July. Motorists are benefiting, as the price of premium gasoline tumbled five percent in November, helping the transport and fuel sector to register a 1.1 percent fall in prices, which left consumers paying 1.4 percent in this sector than they were doing in November 2007.

Food prices continued their upward movement, rising 0.4 percent from October to November. Consumers paying 8.2 percent more for food than they did a year earlier.

Rent, which rose 2.5 percent year on year, was also a major driver behind the inflation rate.

Many countries have seen their inflation rates plunge as the economic downturn starts to bite. November inflation in the US was just 1.1 percent, while it was two percent in Canada and three percent in the UK.