Rising food prices, particularly for vegetables, offset the downward contribution from the transport sector, which included price changes for items such as road passenger transport, second-hand cars and bicycles.

This is the fourth consecutive month inflation has been in positive territory but the figure is still well below the Bank of England’s official 2% inflation target.

“Low inflation coupled with an anaemic outlook for the global economy, means there is little appetite from the Bank of England to raise UK rates any time soon,” said Maike Currie, investment director for personal investing at Fidelity International.